Tales of the Arcane
by kekkeigenkai95
Summary: When it becomes obvious that the long lived line of Uzumaki would be at risk, what would the only surviving Uzumaki elder do to preserve her family line? How would a lost, confused and abandoned shinobi react when he finds that his whole life has been a lie? Begins after the Tsunade Retrieval Arc. Fuinjutsu!Naruto, ChakraChain!Naruto.
1. The Scroll and the Stranger

**A.N. **Hello, this is kekkeigenkai95, with a small sketch I've been sitting on for quite some time. Based on the reception, I might continue this story soon. Hope you enjoy this.

_Disclaimer : I do not own Naruto, and I own it even less after the last version of Harem Jutsu._

_Chapter 1: The Scroll and the Stranger_

Naruto was no stranger to pain. It had been his one companion throughout his life, from the blows he had suffered at the hands of the orphanage workers, to the constant abuse he suffered at Sakura-chan's hands. So why did it hurt so much when she ignored him for Sasuke once again, even though he had fought sannin and almost died to bring baa-chan to heal them?

Naruto was walking down the streets of Konoha, his hands lazily tucked inside his voluminous jacket and his eyes slitted against the glare of the sun. A random passerby would never notice anything was bothering him, though, Naruto thought bitterly, nobody would notice even if he was suddenly missing an arm.

Contrary to popular belief that Naruto was annoyingly cheerful, Naruto often sulked, if not outright brooded. What made him different from other career brooders was the simple fact that he never let anybody _see_ him in the act. Today though, as he left the Konoha General Hospital, he found himself far too preoccupied to bother with what others saw of him.

Sakura would probably never know how much heartache and introspection she had caused by the simple and by now almost instinctual act of ignoring Naruto.

Trying to wrap his mind around the strange feelings of abandonment that had decided to plague him today, Naruto didn't pay any attention to his surroundings until he almost had a very intimate meeting with a tree.

Sufficiently brought out of funk, he took notice of his surroundings, only to let out a bitter giggle. Of course his feet would come here, when he was thinking about the possible folly he had committed in even entering the ninja academy. This was where his journey had truly begun after all, where he had taken down the traitor Mizuki. This was the place where he had accepted the duties of a ninja of Konoha, where he had officially become a ninja.

Now, almost eight months later, he found himself questioning his decision to become a shinobi of the Leaf. After all, the young him had wanted to become a ninja as a means of recognition, pining for the kind of acknowledgement that a ninja got in the Leaf Village.

Well, he had had that notion quickly corrected. A genin Naruto was even less welcome around Konoha than an academy student Naruto, and as a genin he was forced to interact with the very villagers who routinely sneered and belittled him.

The first days as a genin he had held on to some hope that his team would at least accept him; he had been proven wrong soon enough. Naruto had no illusions about Sasuke – As the boy had said in his introduction, he was a person who would never let himself get close enough to a person to be considered anyone's friend. And to be honest, Naruto thought, he really did not want to try. In addition to his 'holier than thou' approach towards him, his very existence was a constant reminder of what Naruto didn't have, and seeing him waste the goodwill of Konoha left a bad taste in his mouth.

Kakashi had once been his hero, when he had protected him from the shadows as an ANBU – Really, did he think that Naruto wouldn't identify his scent? - But ever since his appointment as sensei of Team 7 it had waned, along with the tolerance at his bad excuses. Naruto acknowledged that he may fundamentally be a good person, but he was a terrible teacher. But he would have let that go; after all, he wasn't the worst teacher he had - Mizuki came to mind – if not for the obvious favoritism to the resident broody Uchiha of the team. When he had pawned Naruto off to the awful poser called Ebisu he had cracked the final bit of gratitude that had kept Naruto from grouping him with the others who belittled him.

Naruto closed his eyes as he lay down on a horizontal branch that protruded from a nearby tree, and he sighed. By logical progression, the next person would be Sakura, but it hurt to think about her. Naruto still remembered the shy little girl that he had watched from a distance at the park, too afraid even then of rejection and ridicule to go and talk, but still longing to help her with the bullying she got from her classmates. Then he had not stepped in, afraid of the parent's reaction to seeing him with their children, but that guilt he had carried with him for a long time. That was what had led him to talk to her in the academy, and ask to be her friend in the only way he knew how, which was the way he had observed people become friends in the parks around Konoha. Of course, now he knew that what he had observed was a boy asking a girl to a date, but at the moment the only thing he had noticed was the way the girl's face lit up, and the hugs and affection the couple had shared. Being rather starved for attention, he had longed for that, so in a fit of recklessness he had charged in after the academy had finished, asking the pretty Sakura –chan to a date.

He clearly remembered the ridicule _that _little outburst brought upon him, when Sakura used her ridicule of him as a stepping stone to enter into the elite group at the academy. After that, it had become a matter of pride to him; after all, if he could get the popular Sakura to be his friend, surely he would get accepted?

Now, looking back at his reasons for chasing after her friendship, it felt so hollow, so baseless, so deceptive. But that was not a problem; in fact, it was almost a relief to finally be rid of that yoke tying him down. However, paradoxically, it was exactly this that bothered him the most. Haku's words in the forest kept reverberating in his mind.

_"When a person… has someone important to protect… that's when they can become truly strong."_

Now that the others in Team 7 were officially _personae non grata_ to him, he found himself wondering what he had to tie himself down to Konoha. The Old Man was dead, and even before his death, Naruto had been unsure of his intentions, and rather leery of opening himself to him after the Kyuubi secret had been revealed. It hurt, wondering whether the only man who had been kind to him had done that with a ulterior motive in mind, but it was something he could not help pondering whenever he thought back to those early ramen runs. Surely the Hokage did not do that with all orphans?

Excluding them, the only people he had any connection to were the Ichiraku's, Iruka, and Konohamaru. All of them had ulterior motives for his acquaintance, with the Old man pushing Iruka into socializing with him; the Ichiraku's gaining a significant portion of their income via him, and Konohamaru's own pride. Still, they stuck with him, and for that he would be thankful.

Naruto sighed. Introspection was tiring work, he thought as he absentmindedly tapped the branch below him.

An ominous crack echoed through the clearing, making Naruto look up in alarm. The place he was tapping on the branch had given way, revealing a layer of older bark that was lit up by a strange seal, arcane characters lit up in ominous crimson.

A seal? What was a seal doing in an ordinary tree branch, and how in the world had it activated?

Naruto instinctively jumped off the branch, half expecting the tree to explode in a burst of flames. However, as soon as his hand left the branch, the glowing seals dimmed, the light softly pulsing as opposed to glaring.

Hastily searching for some explanation for the sudden unexplained activation, he suddenly noticed that the blood from when his fingernails had been driven into his palms was still coating his hands. Could the seal have been activated by his blood?

No. That was impossible, he told himself as he approached the gently pulsing seal, now certain that it wouldn't explode. Instead he carefully crept near the strange seal, carefully analyzing it.

Seals had always been a point of interest to Naruto; he seemed to have an instinctive understanding of the subject. In fact, he would probably have been at the top of the class in the Sealing Introductory class at the Academy, if it hadn't been for Hoshi-sensei, who had hated his guts. Later on, he had looked them up whenever he could, until the Old Man had heard of his interests (How he knew, Naruto would never know) and visited his apartment, making him promise to stop studying Fuinjutsu for reasons he wouldn't explain. Naruto had needed a whole week of all-you-can-eat ramen before he had agreed.

Still, Naruto still occasionally dabbled in the study of the esoteric art, and therefore he could tell just by looking at the seal that it was a work of art. The seal's base matrix was somewhat unusual, being a helical base that was covered up using a spiral design concealment cipher. The design itself looked old, but that particular arrangement was one Naruto had seen before, on the protective seals woven into the massive wooden walls surrounding the village.

However, that was not the most intriguing part of the puzzle as far as Naruto was concerned. That honor belonged to the activation sequence of the seal. There, at the very centre of the helical base, was an ink circle surrounding the kanji of 'self', 'family' and 'blood' linked by a combination rune. The ink circle was surrounded by rings and rings of arcane script that detailed restrictions on what the containment seal, for this obviously was one, would release. This was what had Naruto so puzzled, and in a small part of his mind, hopeful.

That this sealing structure was on the barrier meant that it has been around for some time… but it hadn't even been mentioned in passing in any of the beginner sealer scripts that he had stolen. That meant that it was probably a clan style, but with the activation sequence only allowing a blood relative of the sealer to activate the seal…

Naruto looked at the glowing seal with an increasing sense of wonder. All the evidence pointed to one conclusion. Whoever this clan was, he had found a familial connection!

With a growing excitement, Naruto continued to peruse the strangely complex seal. There was the relay, the storage seal, the inhibitor seal, an identification seal, a shock seal? Naruto shuddered in sympathy; those seals hurt! Furthermore, there was a plea to the guardian spirits, and… an emergency total unseal!

Naruto barely managed to stifle his yell of triumph. Even if the blood seal part had been unlocked, it had been an overall locking mechanism that concealed the very presence of the seal. Typically, unlocking it contents would have required an activation password that was obviously out of his reach. Sure, it was still possible to contain the sealed items by nullifying the seal itself, but that would require seal work far beyond his comprehension. Currently his strength was in analyzing seals, not creating them. He could barely make a successful exploding tag.

However, the emergency unseal provided an out. The emergency unseal worked on a simple principle; blood and password. However it differed from the others in that the password had to be specified _in_ the seal structure itself in kanji, therefore any person with a relatively good knowledge of seals could open this seal, if they had managed to open the blood seal.

Grinning infectiously, Naruto bit his own finger, pressing on it until a drop of blood formed on the pad of his finger. Using this, he carefully wrote the kanji for 'Blood' on the centre of the designated empty runic circle.

An ethereal pulse of golden chakra spread throughout the forest, with Naruto barely managing to cling onto the branch due to his instinctual use of chakra.

Suddenly, the forest was unnaturally silent. Then the 'pop' of a storage seal unsealing echoed, along with the customary puff of chakra smoke.

As the smoke blew away, a large bejeweled scroll was visible to Naruto's hungry gaze. It was precariously balanced on the branch, along with another smaller, plain scroll.

Even as Naruto scrambled to catch the scroll before it hit the ground, he was puzzled by the appearance of the scroll. Why go to all that trouble just to seal a scroll? It was not as if the seal could have contained anything else, the emergency unseal essentially short circuited the dimension stability component in the storage, causing anything stored in the other dimension to manifest in the material world. He was abruptly interrupted as his hand closed on the smaller scroll, as when his skin touched the scroll, it caused a sudden suctioning effect on his chakra, causing him to stumble on his landing, landing on his tailbone with a lurch.

The suctioning was getting worse. Naruto was not the most chakra sensitive ninja in Konoha and his skill in internal chakra manipulation was just short of horrible, but even he could sense his chakra output surge out of his control, inexorably pulled towards the insatiable scroll stuck in his left hand. He could dimly feel the larger, more ornate scroll roll away from his thrashing body, but he couldn't muster enough strength to go after it. The surroundings were getting duller to the senses, the world was spinning, and his body was wracked with violent cramps. He faintly recalled Iruka-sensei describe these symptoms as those of severe chakra depletion, but at that time he had not really listened to it. Those days, he had considered himself far too awesome to succumb to something as plebian as chakra exhaustion, and later his tenant had made sure that he was never really short of it. For some reason though, this time the Kyuubi was not supplying chakra as he normally would.

Naruto whimpered as he curled himself into a ball, violent tremors overcoming his body as the scroll continued to resist his attempts to remove it. He could feel that he was close to unconsciousness, and he all but welcomed it. Suddenly, he was feeling even more disorientated as the chakra that had been siphoned away from the body began to flow back into the body from the scroll.

It was a strange feeling; part sudden relief, as if a muscle he had not realized was tensed had suddenly relaxed, and part uncomfortable pressure, as he often got when he gorged on ramen.

The scroll was still firmly stuck to his hand, and the flow of chakra was not showing signs of lessening. When he took a closer look at the small scroll, Naruto's eyes widened in disbelief at the sight.

The once plain red capped scroll was crawling in minute golden symbols, kanji and katakana mixed with several types of ancient hieroglyphs that Naruto had only seen in passing. And they were moving, replicating, morphing in a perpetually shifting pattern that baffled the eye.

That… was just not possible! Naruto may have not been the most dedicated scholar, but he took sealing seriously. And according to what he had learned, the very principles of the art dictated that it was simply impossible to form a self-updating array! Just what was this scroll? The worst part was, now that he could think again, he realized that it was inadvisable to remove the scroll until whatever it did was complete. Otherwise, seeing as it was directly connected to his chakra network, it might damage his chakra coils enough to render them incapable of molding chakra, and that was possibly the last thing he wanted to do.

His muscles protested his attempts to get up, and he rolled over onto his back in disgust, holding the hand stuck to the scroll in front of him. He could see the large scroll caught in the underbrush, and the setting sun through the canopy of the treetops.

Staring at the scroll got old pretty fast, Naruto noted, after staring blearily at the irritating object for close to quarter of an hour. His spewing of curses had finished a few minutes ago, when he had run out of expletives to use for the scroll. The golden script covering the scroll had begun to pulse, its glow ebbing and flowing with his pulse. There was a persistent itch on his lower back that was annoying the hell out of him, he was feeling supercharged from the excess chakra in his coils, and his muscles still felt like limp noodles attached to his limbs rendering any immediate plans of relocation moot.

The rhythmic movement of the glowing script was slowly increasing in speed, slowly building up to a crescendo. He could feel his chakra flowing through the coils mimic it, flowing agitated through his coils, building momentum. Whatever the scroll was going to do, it was going to happen soon.

In spite of himself, the anticipation was getting to him, along with a hitherto unknown emotion: fear. The flowing, morphing symbols were hypnotic, as was the feeling of the chakra flowing within his body. However the itch was getting ever more insistent…

The primal, tribal rhythm reached the apex, the golden script lighting up like a miniature sun. Naruto was wreathed in a bluish chakra aura as it crashed into the walls of his chakra coils in waves and waves of pressure. Naruto's blood was singing in his ears, his body seemed ready to itself apart…

The itch suddenly escalated, transforming into a blinding pain. Naruto's eyes widened as pain speared into his lower back, along with a sudden snapping sound that made him fear for his bones. A suddenly blank scroll fell from his nerveless fingers as he was propelled upwards by an unknown object pressing harshly into his lower back.

Coming to an abrupt stop suspended about 6 feet above ground, Naruto looked around in alarm to find that the surrounding was crisscrossed with thick, cable-like golden chains that seemed somehow insubstantial. They formed a bowl shaped grid around him, and it was obvious that it was what was holding him suspended.

"Well, this wasn't what I expected to see." A cultured female voice spoke from behind him, laced with a hint of amusement. Naruto turned instinctively, the chains holding him up subconsciously aiding him, only to come face-to-face with the woman who had spoken.

The woman looked to be in her early thirties, dressed head-to-toe in white. Her crimson hair was fashioned into twin buns at the sides of her head and held there with several senbon, while an intricate seal stood in the centre of her forehead. But that was not what was concerning Naruto right now.

Instead, all his concerns were centered on the fact that the woman in question was translucent. Naruto could make out the outlines of the tree trunks behind her through her torso, even as she tilted her head to look at him curiously.

"G-G-Ghost!"

With a terrified scream, Naruto instinctively thrust his hands forward, the chains following the motion as four large chains with sharpened hooks for ends speared into the form of the ethereal woman. As they passed harmlessly through the figure, Naruto could feel his chakra getting sapped again.

"W-What a-are y-you?" He managed to stutter, before his body gave up on him and he collapsed in a heap, out cold.


	2. Mito of the Uzumaki Clan

**A.N. **A short chapter bridging the finding of the scroll, and the start of the training. Hope you enjoy it!

_Chapter 2 : Mito of the Uzumaki Clan_

Naruto woke up to the sound of birdsong. Slowly opening his crusted eyes, he got up from his uncomfortable position on the ground. He paused to make a face in disgust; soil did not taste good, especially in the morning before he could brush his teeth. He would know, he had checked.

Now what had he done _this_ time to sleep in the woods?

Naruto was used to sleeping in the woods; in fact he had slept in them consistently for over a year between his forced ejection from his childhood home, the Orphanage of Western Konoha, and him being found by a 'kind old man' who gave him the apartment he lived in now. He still slept in the woods from time to time, when the pressures of living with people who hated him got to him, or when he wanted to cause some destruction in order to let out his feelings cathartically without doing something drastic like punching Sasuke's smug face in. Training himself to exhaustion just to get rid of his feelings was nothing new to him, though he _had_ cut back recently. This must have been the first time he did it since his meeting with Haku in the woods of Nami no Kuni.

Idly looking at the sky, he found that it was exceptionally early; it was only 6am. Kakashi-sensei did not come to the training grounds till well past eleven which left him with almost 5 hours till the team met. In a way, he was glad; he was not eager to meet his team right now with the wound of his rejections still fresh.

Looking around the clearing for any stray kunai he may have used – throwing kunai were an _incredible_ way to relieve stress – he found an odd sight; a bejeweled scroll cap peeking from the underbrush. That triggered his memory of what had happened here.

In a flash, he was pulling the scroll out of the bushes, holding it almost reverently between his hands as he examined it. It was real! It was something that was entirely his, something belonging to his family. With trembling hands, he reached to pry it open…

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

Naruto turned around in surprise, coming face-to-face with the speaker. Who was pale, translucent, dressed in an ornate pure white long sleeved kimono and looked like a noblewoman. Not that Naruto was particularly concentrating on that. He was firmly rooted in the 'translucent' part of the observation.

"G-G-Ghost!"

In a motion that looked inherently strange in an incorporeal being, the wraith winced, putting translucent hands in front of translucent torso in the universal instinctive warding gesture. Naruto was having real trouble getting over the translucent part.

Then she spoke. Her voice was soft and quiet, yet firm and cultured, and she seemed quite cross with him.

"I'm getting a sense déjà-vu." She sighed. "You know, for a novice you wield those infernal chains of yours pretty well. Though that doesn't mean you should spear them through me!"

"G-G-Ghost!"

A gusty sigh escaped the ghost's lips. "You know for an Uzumaki you're unusually timid." She paused. "And repetitive. Very repetitive."

"Hey! Who're you calling timid, dattebayo!" The taunt got Naruto's attention, but a split second later he remembered what he was speaking to. "Please don't eat me! O-Or do anything else y-you g-g-ghost's do…"

"I'm not a ghost!" The ghost refuted hotly. Naruto wordlessly pointed towards her body. The ghost looked down, only to scream at her see-through body.

After recovering from her abrupt scream (which had _not_ consisted of him screaming his head off and running up a tree) Naruto looked at the ghost to find her interestedly prodding at her own body and muttering to herself. "Hmm… It looks like the visibility array malfunctioned, you know… Though the solidity array works pretty well, as well as the de-aging seal." She prodded her own body again, before shrugging. "You know, I am a genius!"

Naruto looked on open mouthed, as the 'ghost' continued to prod her own body in apparent detached interest. "Umm… Hello, Ghost-san, who the hell are you and what are you doing here, dattebayo?"

Said ghost looked up, and judging by the frosty expression on her face wasn't very pleased with the question. "You know, its Mito-sama to you little boy, didn't your parents ever teach you to be polite?"

That had Naruto on the defensive. "Hey, you can't go around telling me what to do, creepy ghost lady!" He moped. "You're being really rude, dattebayo."

"And I'm an orphan, so there!"

For the first time in the conversation, Mito seemed to have difficulty forming a sentence. "I-Is that so?" She inquired hesitantly. "What about cousins?"

A shake of the head.

"Any relations?"

"No. I'm the only Uzumaki in Konoha or anywhere else! I've never met any relatives, I don't have a fancy clan, and I don't want to talk to you! Why are you asking anyway?"

Mito's eyes softened in understanding, even as she gasped in realization. "Are you Kushina's boy?"

Naruto shook his head again. "Never knew my parents, nobody in Konoha knows who my parents are… Even Hokage-jiji didn't know…"

Mito frowned. "And you haven't ever heard of you know, the Uzumaki-clan?"

Naruto scoffed. "Never heard of an Uzumaki Clan. What're you trying to say, anyway? That I'm from some sort of fancy clan? Yeah right. That'll be the day. Ghost lady, Konoha doesn't treat people of clans like they do me."

Mito's eyes widened with realization.

"You dropped the creepy part, you know. It's nice to know I'm only 'ghost lady' now." Mito observed with a slight smile, even as her eyes smouldered with anger at the realization of what had happened. "Anyway," she continued casually, "you wouldn't happen to be a jinchuuriki, would you?"

Naruto choked on his breath. "Wha-What? Why would you even ask that?" His voice rose an octave in his attempt to deflect the question, and Naruto cursed his voice under his breath. Why did his voice have to start cracking now, of all times?

Mito looked at him sternly, and Naruto tried not to quail under her stare. "You know, for a shinobi your lying skills are notoriously poor. Your eyes wander, your hands twist together and you shuffle your feet."

As Naruto hurriedly tried to fix the points mentioned, Mito soldiered on. "And as for your question, when I lived in Konoha there was another Uzumaki living here, and she was also a jinchuuriki… You know, only an Uzumaki can successfully hold the Kyuubi."

Naruto interrupted her, looking at her with sparkling eyes. "Really? Who was she? Do I know about her? Oh, wait," he deflated, "I checked the shinobi records, there have been no Uzumaki living in Konoha from its start!"

Naruto narrowed his eyes at Mito. "Are you lying to me?"

Instead of a startled reaction as Naruto half expected, Mito flew into a rage. "Erase my records! Oh, this time that old monkey went too far…"

She stood rooted on her spot, before abruptly turning towards Naruto. "Little Sarutobi _is_ still the Hokage, right?"

"Old man died a few weeks back, Orochimaru killed him." Naruto stated flatly. However much he had had doubts of the Old Man, they had still been very close. "The fifth is Senju Tsunade."

"Little Tsu-Tsu! That's just wonderful! I've got to see her…"

Naruto stared at her disbelievingly. "Little Tsu-tsu?" He repeated hollowly. "She'll probably smash me through the wall if I called her that, _literally_! Just who are you and exactly how old are you, ghost lady?"

Mito started guiltily; she had completely forgotten to introduce herself. "Sorry about that," she said sheepishly, "I am Senju, nee Uzumaki Mito, Wife of Hashirama Senju, Daughter Heiress of the Uzumaki Clan, and Mistress of the Sealing Arts. And if you're who I think you are, then I'm your Great-great-grandmother. Nice to meet you."

Naruto flapped his jaw futilely for a moment. "That's real nice, ghost lady," he mumbled weakly. "I think I'll take a nap now." With that, Naruto fell backwards in a dead faint.

"You know, you should get that looked into."

Naruto simply groaned. "So, ghost lady, what are you going to do now?"

Mito grinned slightly. "Well, Naruto-kun, before I answer that, what do you know of the Uzumaki Clan?"

"Uhh… Nothing, I guess…"

Mito stared at him, before sighing and calling him over to the edge of the crater created by the chakra chains in the first scroll. As they both sat down on an uprooted tree, Mito began her story.

"You know what? I'll tell you the story the way my mother told me, back when I was a small girl growing up in the Islands of Whirlpool…"

_Once upon a time, about a thousand years ago, the world was a very different place. The countries in the world were different, and they all had armies of samurai. Ninja lived in small hidden enclaves, never seen by civilians, and only accepting missions through contacts. It was a simple life, but they were happy._

_Then, one day, a God and a Goddess came down to earth to spend some time together. But the Goddess fell in love with the earth, and she refused to leave, instead spending her time frolicking among the flowers and spurning the Gods affections. In time, the God, who was in love with the Goddess, became jealous of the earth and the flowers as he felt they had stolen his love from him._

_Therefore he hatched a plan. Going into the Underworld and plucking a seed from a tree there, the God snuck into the Goddess' garden and planted the seed there. In time this seed grew into a beautiful tree, growing on the negative emotions that plagued the world. For you see, this was no ordinary plant, but a demon child._

_When the Goddess saw the beautiful tree in her garden, she was overjoyed, and tried to pet the plant like she did every other tree in her garden. However the demon in the plant couldn't bear to come close to the Goddess, therefore it scratched her hand in fright._

_Horrified by her bleeding hand, the Goddess swore to never garden again, choosing to leave Earth with the overjoyed God, who in his happiness forgot to return the plant to the Underworld._

_In time this tree would grow very large, and began to be worshipped by the people as a symbol of god. However, the negative emotions wafting from the tree spread discord, causing the lands to descend into chaos, with tribe fighting tribe, clan fighting clan, and country fighting country._

_In time, it came to be that one small fledgling nation gained custody of the land containing the demon tree. This kingdom was ruled by the clan calling themselves the Otsutsuki, and they had a princess called Kaguya._

_She was fascinated by the tree and would often visit it in her walks around the palace. One day she saw that the tree had born fruit, and thinking that with the strength of the gods she would be able to stop the constant bloodshed, she consumed it._

_The fruit deformed her, and in despair she fled her country. Her desperate desire to heal the world would stop most of the corruption, but the power had warped her, not only in body but in mind. In time she would emerge from the shadows, a god-like being with unspeakable power, to unite all nations under her oppressive fist._

_Her kingdom was not to last. The demon had felt its power being used by another, and it grew enraged. Transforming into a demonic creature with ten-tails, it stampeded through the world, leaving chaos in its wake. Meanwhile among the humans, Hagoromo, the son of Kaguya overthrew his mother, leading a rebellion to free the lands from her rule. Having inherited his mother's powers in an even more concentrated form, therefore he was the person the people turned to save them from the rampaging demon._

_Meeting the Ten-tails in an abandoned valley, Hagoromo battled it for seven days and seven nights, finally managing to wound it fatally, before sealing its essence inside himself and the body inside the moon._

_Hagoromo gave rise to the age of ninja, and his teaching of __**ninshu**__ spread across the lands. He is known as the hero of the world, and as the god of shinobi. He is also the creator of the bijuu, and the progenitor of the Senju, Uchiha, and Uzumaki clans._

_It is said that on his deathbed, the man now known as the Sage of Six paths divided his philosophy among his three children: _

_To the eldest son, who would found the Uchiha clan, he gave his insight and vision, the ability to see the nature of human conflict. He also inherited the strong spiritual presence of his father._

_To the younger son, who would found the Senju clan, he gave his pragmatism, his grasp on emotion, the ability to recognize love and inspire it. He inherited the strong physical presence of his father._

_To his daughter, who would found the Uzumaki clan, he gave his courage, his will, his ability to weather the storms of circumstance to reach their goals. She inherited the unique mind of her father, allowing her to see things from different perspectives, which she would later incorporate into our unique sealing style._

_The Uchiha were the first to turn from the path set for them by the Sage. Horrified by the reality of the world and unable to handle it, they sought to cleanse the world by baptism of fire, espousing that the world was too corrupt to save._

_The second to turn from the path were the Senju. Horrified by the crimes committed by the Uchiha, they nevertheless stayed their hand blinded by their love for peace and their wish to save people who did not want to be saved, refusing to strike down even those who deserved it._

_The Uzumaki alone stayed true to our values as time went on. Never choosing a side between the warring brothers, they would be a constant in an ever changing world…_

"…And that is what the philosophy of the Uzumaki is, Naruto-kun."

"What do you mean?"

"An Uzumaki endures, an Uzumaki survives, an Uzumaki does not compromise their values, and an Uzumaki always keeps his eyes on the objective." Mito's lips twitched in a slight grin. "That is why we were so feared, you know, Naruto-kun. Because a true Uzumaki was the ultimate shinobi. You know, it took three elemental nations and their entire armies to bring Uzushiogakure, the home of the Uzumaki, down in the First Shinobi war. M-My b-brother, Uzumaki Shin, was the Clan head at that time. Took the entire force of Iwa's BOULDER unit to bring him down, and he still didn't go without taking the entire lot with him, you know…"

Naruto listened to Mito ramble on about the Uzumaki clan with a small content smile on his face. Listening to the stories of his kin brought to him a strange sort of relief, like a ache that he had carried in his heart for a long time had healed. May be he was losing his mind, talking to a ghost, and he might wake up tomorrow with a lump on his head to find that he had been hallucinating, but right now, he wouldn't give this moment up for the world.

**Coming up next on Tales of the Arcane: **

"What the hell did your scroll do to me? How the hell am I going to explain this to baa-chan!"

"Now calm down, Naruto-kun, we'll work it –"

"I'm not going to calm down, ghost lady! I'm a blond, and I will always be a blond!"

**The Crimson Thread of Fate, or not!**

_Kekkkeigenkai95, out!_


	3. Red Thread of Fate, Or Not?

**A.N.** And here it is; the third chapter of Tales of the Arcane. I seriously didn't plan on releasing it so soon, but the idea refused to leave me alone till I had it down. This chapter came out a bit too angsty for my liking, but what can you do?

Also, just to note, the constant use of (you know) by Mito was my version of giving her a verbal tic like all the canon Uzumaki seem to have. Please let me know if it is working.

A thank you goes to everyone who has taken a bit of their time to review my stories. So, Thank you!

Please review.

[Insert standard disclaimer]

_Chapter 3 : Red Thread of Fate, or Not?_

Naruto yawned tiredly when Mito finally paused in her recital of life in the Uzumaki Clan.

"Ghost lady, it's getting a bit late isn't it? I should probably go back; some people get a little fidgety when I'm not around for some time." It was true. ANBU still got shivers down there collective spines when they thought of the 'Great Itching powder incident'. It was quite normal for them to deploy additional squads to locate 'the Uzumaki' when no ANBU personnel had 'sighted' him for more than 24 hours.

Mito got an immensely guilty look on her face, and though she was quick to mask it, Naruto who had trained himself to read other's emotions towards him, especially after the Mizuki Incident, caught it.

With a hidden core of rising panic, Naruto turned to Mito. "Ghost lady, why did you flinch?"

Mito wet her lips a bit nervously. "Uhh… How to tell you this… Naruto-kun, the scroll that summoned me, it had two seals inscribed."

"Two seals! You told me that the scroll simply used my chakra to power an array that materialized your conscience stored inside the scroll into a physical form!"

Mito flinched again. Though she had not told that outright she _had_ implied it, preferring to leave this for later. After all, breaching the subject of altering the genetic makeup of a person without their consent was a delicate proposition.

"That… is true, Naruto-kun, but not… the whole truth." She gulped. "You know, I created this scroll so that an heir of the Uzumaki legacy would find themselves attracted to the scroll. By then I was around eighty years old," she smirked at Naruto's slack jaw, "and there was no direct lineage to the Uzumaki clan. The only other was Kushina, who I suspect is your mother, and she was smitten with a boy from a small local clan and planned to take his name, leaving the Uzumaki clan extinct."

She sighed. "I think she wanted to forget; the Uzumaki had sent her away to be Kyuubi's next jinchuuriki just before they were," she choked over the word, "d-d-destroyed. She didn't have a very amicable split with her family, and next thing she knew her family was dead. Poor girl."

Sighing to herself again, Mito resumed her narration. "Anyway, I knew that I couldn't allow it, so I left this scroll. A potential heir would find the scroll due to the slight attraction their chakra had to the scroll, and upon touching it, the scroll would begin a purification process."

"A purification process?" Naruto asked quietly, a hint of anger lacing his words.

"Yes, a purification process. It would purify your Uzumaki traits, alter your genetic markers, bring out the latent Uzumaki kekkei genkai," she gestured at Naruto, "and basically turn you into a full blooded Uzumaki."

"What do you mean 'turn you into a full blooded Uzumaki!" Naruto shouted at Mito, jumping up and patting himself, turning back and forth, trying to find what had happened to him, before he paused. "And what do you mean kekkei genkai? I don't have a kekkei genkai!"

Mito smiled, a triumphant grin that for some reason sent shivers down Naruto's spine. "You mean you _didn't _have a kekkei genkai."

Holding out one delicate hand, she gestured. "Observe." From her translucent hand, a wraith-like oriental dragon slowly peeked out, curling gently around her hand. "All Uzumaki have a kekkei genkai called _Chakra Expression._ We are naturals at form manipulation of chakra, and we can naturally express certain structures of raw chakra which are unique to each individual Uzumaki. As you can see, my expression is dragons. You, if I remember from yesterday, expressed spiked chains. Same as your mother, and my brother, who was your great-great-grandfather."

Naruto listened in wonder, forgetting about the chakra purification for the time being. He had a kekkei genkai! That would show that bastard Uchiha with his precious pink-eye, he thought vindictively.

Mito continued her little lecture, unaware of the thoughts inside Naruto's head. "Each expression has a specific specialty. Mine, dragons, are naturally attuned towards offence and genjutsu. I had a cousin who expressed ropes, and they were naturally attuned towards obstruction and genjutsu. Yours I believe to be attuned towards barriers and fuinjutsu, which makes it one of the most coveted expressions in the clan."

Then, showing a sliver of a nervous smile, she soldiered on. "So, for all that, I hope you don't mind that you have paler skin and red hair!"

All blood drained from Naruto's face, which given his recently acquired fair skin tone meant that he looked almost yellow. "I have red hair! Why would you do that! Oh my gosh, I have red hair!"

As Naruto forcefully tugged at his hair, trying to see its colour as he rapidly descended into a panic attack, Mito smiled to herself. That was the Uzumaki hot temper, which was a highly exaggerated state of panic and chaos that did not last long. She would have been more worried if Naruto had become quiet, closed off and polite. That was the cold anger that was common with the Uzumaki, a smouldering, frigid hatred that would have taken years to thaw. Which was the main reason most people feared her, as she was always polite leading many to believe she wanted them hung, drawn and quartered.

Naruto was trying to pull his hair out at the roots now. "What the hell did your scroll do to me? How the hell am I going to explain this to Baa-chan?"

Mito held out a hand in front of her, hoping to pacify the raging ex-blond. "Now calm down, Naruto-kun, we'll work it-"

Naruto got into her face, still trying to pull his hair out of his scalp. "I'm not going to calm down, ghost lady! I'm a blond; I will always be a blond!"

With a cloud of depression hanging over his head, he flopped bonelessly to the ground. "Do you know how bad my jumpsuit would look with red hair?"

Mito stared at him for a moment. "I can see." she deadpanned. "However I hardly think looking like someone thatched your head would make _that_ monstrosity look presentable." She glared at the jumpsuit.

Naruto's head snapped back at that, all evidence of his funk forgotten, and Mito had to restrain a smile. Sometimes he acted so like Hashirama it was just cute.

"Hey!" He pouted, looking at Mito with a sulky expression. "Don't insult the orange."

Mito looked at him in slight disbelief. "Well apart from the fact that you stand out like a walking road sign and the fact that that baggy suit makes you look even more of a midget than you are, I have no problems with that jumpsuit. Anyway, weren't you, you know, going to meet Tsu-tsu?"

Naruto grumbled, even as he picked up his discarded jacket and the large scroll and started to treehop to civilization, turning his back on Mito. "It's not like she can talk, dattebayo. She's wearing white!"

"Ah, but white is the colour of the elite, Naruto-kun." Mito said from right behind him, causing him to jump. Ignoring Naruto's startled curse, she continued. "In the ancient days, a shinobi wore white as a sign of confidence, as it said to their opponent that they were not even going to get bloodstains on their clothes."

"Don't. Do. That!" Naruto screamed at Mito, still panting from his fright. "I could've thrown a kunai at you!"

Mito smirked. "You know, you aren't very good at the thinking business, are you? Naruto, I haven't come back to life; that would require something like the Edo Tensei of Tobirama-kun, and I was never that much of a freak." She gestured at her own body with an airy gesture. "This body is only a chakra construct housing my conscience; though I _am_ glad I decided to de-age me!"

"And she thinks she isn't a freak." Naruto muttered under his breath in disbelief.

"What was that?" Mito asked, turning towards Naruto with a demonic expression.

"Nothing. Absolutely nothing at all." Naruto squeaked.

She shook her head. "Anyway, this is just a chakra shell. That's why I didn't die when your spiked chains ripped though me," she said, before throwing a reproachful look at him, "though the phantom pains still hurt, you know."

"Hey!" Naruto turned towards her indignantly, while still hopping through the treetops, meaning that he was leaping backwards. "You can't blame me for that. I don't even know how to bring out the chains, dattebayo!"

Mito's eyes oddly brightened at that, even as Naruto instinctively flinched away from her, almost causing him to lose his balance. "Good. I forgot I have to train you in the Uzumaki ways, Naruto-kun. Can't have the future Clan Head ignorant, can we? Today, after your team practice we can come back here and begin our training proper. Isn't that great?"

Naruto twitched nervously. Normally he wouldn't pass up free training, but this time some inner instinct was screaming at him that he would regret agreeing. He knew why a moment later.

"After all, in the Uzumaki Clan we have this special way of teaching the fighting arts. It's called 'Try not to die'. Oh, this is going to be so fun!" Mito exclaimed, rubbing her hands together with a disturbing grin.

By now, Naruto had beads of sweat dripping down his face, before he paused in thought. Why was he being afraid? Surviving was something he knew how to do. He grinned.

"Bring it on, ghost lady! If your bones aren't creaking of age, that is."

He was answered with a scroll to the face. Looking at the scroll, he was a bit freaked out to find that it was the scroll that had brought Mito in the first place.

"Keep it." Mito groused, a bit ruffled by the jab at her age. "If something destroys the chakra shell, you can bring me back using that."

"Speaking of which, I'm going to try something. Seeing as I can't walk around half transparent without everyone thinking I'm a ghost, I'm going to try something."

She held her hands in the ram position, concentrating.

"Wow. That is so much better." Naruto deadpanned, looking at the still translucent woman.

"Oh, shut up." Mito groused. Just then, something seemed to click into place, and Mito gradually started to disappear from view. Soon, Naruto was alone in the clearing.

He looked around a bit warily. "Hello? Ghost lady?"

"Yes, Naruto-kun." A voice whispered in his ear. Naruto bit back a scream. "Don't. Do. That!"

Turning towards the voice, Naruto came face to face with… nothing? Naruto stared for a moment before gentle giggling issued from in front of him. Blinking, Naruto reached out in front of him, his hand coming to rest on something solid, and soft. Then a tremendous punch met his face, and he tumbled into the ground from the tree branches. A shout followed him.

"Pervert!"

…

Naruto bounded into the Hokage tower looking rather nauseated, an annoyed Mito invisibly ghosting behind him. Naruto was grumbling while nursing a rather considerable bruise on his cheek. "How was I supposed to know where you were? If you didn't want that to happen, you shouldn't have turned invisible in the first place. Crazy women…"

A scowling Mito hissed in his ear. "Naruto-san. The guards are watching you!"

The tower guards looked at each other over his head as he waved to them as he entered the building, as he appeared to talk to himself. One of the ANBU twitched his wrist in an undulating motion.

'_How many targets?' _Of course, ANBU sign language being the combat oriented language it was, they could not exactly convey what they needed to ask, but it worked well enough in non-combat roles to get the point across.

The ANBU on the other side looked spooked. He was a sensor, and he had noticed a change in the orange wearing teen's chakra signature but there had been only one presence crossing his post. So who had he been talking to?

'_One. Anomaly in target. Inconclusive. Orders?" _

The ANBU captain's gaze immediately fixed itself on a nearby wall. A moment later a part of the wooden wall protruded outwards, gaining colour as it did so. The man that emerged from the wall, who was wearing a tiger ANBU mask, immediately shunshined to the captain's position. He leant over, whispering into the captain's ear.

"Sir?"

"Tora, what is the presence of the demon's chakra?"

"Completely vanished, sir. It's like it isn't even there…"

The ANBU Captain stared at the mokuton user, a befuddled expression on his face. "Explain."

"Sir, the seal leaks some of Kyuubi's chakra at all times, but it was missing just now. It's as if the boy was not a jinchuuriki."

The ANBU Captain started. In a flash he signaled the sensor, who was still staring after the blond jinchuuriki. "_Signs of genjutsu or any chakra use?"_

_"None."_

He stared at Tora, who stared back. If they initiated a detainment sequence, word would get out about the capture from the office-nin and it would possibly set Naruto back a few years in his attempt to gain the recognition of the populace. It had been only their involvement that had kept lynch mobs from forming a few years back. On the other hand, if it was a henged assassin…

"I don't get paid enough for this…" he groused, ready to issue the order, regardless of consequences, when an argument wafted down to them. "Are you drinking again, you old hag?"

"Shut up, you brat!" *crash*

Never mind. Not even an assassin was stupid enough to insult Tsunade of the Sannin to her face, not to mention that if one of her punches did not disrupt a genjutsu nothing would.

Muscles noticeably relaxed, he ordered the ANBU back to their posts. As he resumed his monotonous duties as captain of the guard, a stray thought came to his mind. 'Why was he wearing a turban?'

…

While Naruto and Tsunade had their customary greeting, and Naruto promptly had his meeting with the heavy oak door of the office, Mito looked on bemused. Her little Tsu-tsu-chan was all grown up! And apparently a heavy drinker too, she thought as she wrinkled her nose at the smell of sake coming off the henged woman. While Tsunade was focusing on Naruto's new headdress – What, you trying to look like a suna-nin, you brat? – she was picking out the hidden people in the room with experienced eyes. Of course, it helped that she had helped design the room she was examining. The room had fifteen man sized hiding spots, three on the ceiling, four near the windows, four set in the corners of the room, and four hidden behind furniture in the walls. Only four of these were occupied, she only had to figure out which…

There. One shadowed elbow peeked out from a hiding spot on the ceiling, and by the orientation she was able to find the others; ANBU liked to stay within sight of other ANBU, as it enabled communication. Now to disable them… As four wraith-like dragons formed behind her back, she snapped through a series of hand seals.

**_"Uzumaki Hidden Illusion Art: Prismatic Dragons!"_**

It was over in a flash. The four dragons flared in the colours of the rainbow, and even as Tsunade and the ANBU turned towards the chakra flare, the dragons whipped into the hidden ANBU. As soon as the dragons passed through the ANBU, they sagged, falling over with an odd sigh. They were out cold. Mito gave a cold smirk.

"Heh. I've still got it."

Meanwhile, as soon as the chakra had flared, Tsunade had flipped the desk on end as she yanked Naruto over the overturned desk.

"Stay put."

"Let me go, baa-chan!"

Tsunade turned an exceptionally serious look on Naruto, prompting him to shut up. "But –"

Tsunade was already ignoring him. Naruto sighed; the least ghost lady could have done was tell him she was going to thrash the Hokage tower.

Tsunade stepped out of the shadow of the desk, scowling. "Whoever you are, come out before I make you." She ordered in a stern voice, hoping to prompt the hidden assailant to reveal themselves. Therefore she was slightly surprised when a voice answered her in a conversational tone.

"Oh, stop it with the crass posturing. You know, little Tsu-Tsu, I think I taught you better than that; I blame Tobirama, he was always a bad influence…"

Tsunade froze. Then blood rushed to her face, and her knuckles cracked. Naruto winced as she leapt to the source of the voice, her fists blazing with chakra as they came down in a double punch that cracked the floors made of the First Hokage's chakra seeped wood, causing splinters to fly around her.

Then Mito spoke again, this time from the opposite end of the room. "So crass, little Tsu-Tsu, your fighting style. You know, as a kunoichi you must show some grace: not run around punching things like a maniac! Seriously, what did that monkey teach you'll after I was gone?"

Tsunade gritted her teeth. "Whoever you are, this is not funny! If you come out, I'll grant you a quick death. If not, well…" She curled her fingers into a fist, chakra rippling around it. "I'll make you pay for impersonating my family!"

"Empty threats, empty threats, little Tsu-Tsu. After all, you can't even find me, can you? Obviously not, you're drunk like a skunk, and on the job too! What would your father think?"

As Tsunade prepared to launch herself at the mocking voice once more, Naruto interrupted. "Uhh… Baa-chan? That really is your grandma… And Ghost Lady, that wasn't very funny."

Mito neatly reappeared beside Naruto, looking around at the destruction serenely. "Naruto-kun, why did you have to, you know, spoil my fun?" She asked in a completely flat voice that had Naruto gaping at her incredulously. Though, to be entirely fair, she wasn't the only one gaping at her. Tsunade was staring at her motionlessly, transfixed.

A few seconds later, she spoke wonderingly. "My grandmother's… a ghost?"

Mito shrugged her shoulders slightly. "Hello, Tsu-Tsu."

Naruto interjected when Tsunade seemed to prepare to launch a volley of questions. "Yeah. Though that's probably my fault, come think of it."

Tsunade turned towards him, an imperious look on her face, and Naruto shivered. Towering over him, Tsunade spoke. "Oi, brat. What happened a few minutes earlier, that never happened, get it?"

Naruto nodded frantically. "And now, talk." She said grimly.

And Naruto talked.

Halfway through the explanation, Tsunade had broken out more sake, locked the doors and dumped the unconscious ANBU outside as Mito sealed the room. The three were seated on the sofas that surrounded the Hokage Desk, with Naruto and Mito on one side and Tsunade on the other. Tsunade was nursing a headache.

"So let me get this straight. You," she said pointing at Naruto, "_just_ managed to stumble onto an old scroll left by you," she pointed at Mito, "that would select and prepare the next Uzumaki clan head, which managed to turn him into a full blooded Uzumaki, and make you manifest in a corporeal… well semi-corporeal form. Speaking of which," she paused to stare at Mito intently, "What exactly are you?"

Mito smiled, "I was waiting for you to ask. It was a delightful piece of fuinjutsu, you know. What I did was seal my conscience in the spiritual containment array in the seal, connected to a chakra host vampire seal."

Tsunade gasped. "But Grandma, that's forbidden – "

Mito smirked. "Only for the other shinobi. You know that we Uzumaki have always had a rather unhealthy amount of chakra." Shooting the disgruntled Tsunade an amused look, she continued to explain the method of revival she had used. "So when a suitable candidate touched the seal, it extracts chakra from the person, which is channeled into two seals, one which is the Uzumaki purification morphing seal which enhances the Uzumaki characteristics of the user, and a body template seal, which creates a solid chakra shell for the parasitic conscience, which is, in this case, me. The seal contains another inbuilt purification morphing seal that is customized to my chakra, making it so that I can use my chakra in the host body. The chakra that enters the Uzumaki purification morphing seal harmonizes with healing chakra stored in the chakra storage seal attached to it, and is injected back into the body via a chakra injection array. The combined chakra initiates a cascading reaction in the cells, causing them to undergo specific mutations to make it mimic the original Uzumaki stock."

At the end of the explanation Tsunade was looking rather awestruck. Naruto, on the other hand, looked nauseous. "Don't say mutated! _Why _would you even_ do _that, anyway?"

Mito didn't even look phased. "So you would look like an Uzumaki, of course! We can't have an Uzumaki clan head that doesn't look like an Uzumaki, can we?"

At Naruto's outraged expression, Mito cracked. "Sorry, you're just too easy to tease. Really your body has to contain the proper template for it to produce Uzumaki chakra of your own. What you expressed at the end was the chakra converted by the scroll. By now your body's producing its own."

Naruto's retort was cut off by the sound off laughter. Turning towards the sound, Naruto saw Tsunade laughing her guts out. "Ha, Ha! So that's why you're wearing a turban!" Slipping from her seat, she was in front of Naruto in an instant, prying fingers reaching for the headdress. "Come on brat, let's see that nice shiny red hair of yours!"

Naruto scowled, squirming to get away from Tsunade, who was now petting his hair, marveling its newly acquired silkiness. Mito smiled; it was good to see them play.

…

Naruto slowly dragged himself to training ground #7, obviously rather hesitant about meeting his team. He had ditched the turban at the Hokage Tower. Mito ghosted behind him with an obviously worried expression. The reason for this was the subject of their discussion.

"So that's why I've been feeling a little less, well… full lately?"

"Well Naruto-kun, as a chakra construct, I'm like a summoned creature, you know; I don't generate chakra on my own because I'm not a part of the natural order… Instead whenever I expend chakra I recover it from your own reserves. Considering your chakra control, I'll say that it will be like keeping a hundred kage bunshin active at all times when I'm not in combat? Anyway, that's why you fainted in the clearing after spearing me through; it automatically diverted your reserves to heal my chakra shell, which stretched your already strained chakra network too far, you know."

Seeing Naruto's contemplative look, she continued hesitantly. "If you want, you know, I could just teach you the basics as soon as possible, and then you can disconnect me. You could probably learn what you need to know from the scrolls sealed in the large scroll; you don't need me for that."

Naruto abruptly stopped walking, staring at her with an unreadable expression on his face. "Do you want to go? Because I won't tell you to stay with me if you don't want to. If you want you can go and catch up with baa-chan some more, you probably have lots to talk about. Meet you in the afternoon, Mito-sama." Now with a definitely stony look on his face, Naruto turned to go meet his team.

"Wait, Naruto-kun!" He paused at the shout, turning to look at a transparent Mito who looked at the edge of tears. "I didn't mean that, you know!" She pleaded imploringly. "I mean, I know having me here is probably inconvenient for you, and I'm sucking your chakra dry, and you probably don't want me hanging around you anyway –"

Her rambling was interrupted when a soft missile crashed into her, grabbing her in a tight hug. His face pressed into the crook of her neck as he held on tightly, as Mito's form darkened in a blush.

"I've never had family before, and I'm not letting you just leave, ghost lady!" He whispered in a gruff voice as he squeezed her further into his embrace. "It's like you told me. Uzumaki never leave anyone behind! So give it up already, you aren't getting rid of me that easy!"

Mito held the shaking teen to her, stunned. Had what she had just said been misconstrued as a rejection? For such a brash personality, he was turning out to be very vulnerable; was this what Konoha had done to him? She instinctively found herself staring into the Hokage monument in the distance. Hashirama-kun, what have they done to your dream?

Bending slightly, she looped her own hands around him, whispering in his ear. "Naruto-kun," Naruto stiffened as her breath hit his ear, "You're never going to be alone, ever again." The child merely burrowed further into her embrace; for the first time in her life since the destruction of Uzushiogakure she began to have uncharitable thoughts about Konoha. How could a village do this to one of their own, especially over a burden forced on him at birth? How could they have the nerve to do this to an Uzumaki, when they still wore a bloodied spiral in penance?

A child so young, so alone. With a slight shiver, she realized that she was partially to blame. Kyuubi was something she had introduced to Konoha, after all. In a way, Naruto was her legacy, even more than the Uzumaki heritage. She then thought of Kushina, that small girl who had asked her if she could really hold Kyuubi's rage within her. Tsu-Tsu had given her details of Kushina's death and the Kyuubi attack after their visit; apparently even as Hokage she needed to adjust Naruto's security clearance before she was allowed to tell him. Thinking back to the visage of the teary-eyed girl, she found herself wondering. Kushina-chan, what would you have done if you saw this?

Looking down at the shaking boy, she found herself burying her own face in his silky crimson hair. "Never alone," she repeated, "Not if I can help it, I promise." And she intended to keep her promise.

She just wasn't quite sure if she was promising it to Naruto or to herself.


	4. The Wind of Change

_Chapter 4 : The Wind Of Change_

**A.N. **The fourth chapter… This was one of the more fun chapters to write. Not much action, but lots of rants. And for you bloodthirsty fans out there, sorry for the wait. You'll have your gory scenes soon, I promise. So, here it is… Enjoy!

By the way, thank you all for the reviews! To all of you who took some time to say something to me, Thank you!

_Disclaimer : Naruto belongs to Kishimoto. Kishimoto's heart belongs to Sasuke, the poor sap. As if he didn't have enough fangirls._

…

_Now and then I think of all the times you screwed me over  
But had me believing it was always something that I'd done  
But I don't wanna live that way  
Reading into every word you say_

**_Somebody that I used to know – Gotye ft. Kimbra_**

…

The wooden bridge near the #7 training ground was peaceful. A gentle breeze was flowing through the trees, the small stream gently wove through the rocks… and a simpering pink haired kunoichi was eye-raping her disgruntled crush. A normal meeting for the dysfunctional Genin team 7.

Said kunoichi was, as earlier stated, sporting bright pink hair, her hitai-ite used to tie up her hair. She was wearing a red dress with a marking depicting a white circle on her back. Her crush, on the other hand, sported a high collared blue shirt paired with a pair of white shorts. He was also sporting raven hair that stuck out at the back, a pair of swirling half-developed Sharingan, and his customary frown.

So far the day had gone to routine. Sakura had come early, waited for her beloved Sasuke to come, then squealed out a greeting. The avenger had responded with the ever expressive 'Hn', after which he proceeded to sit in his customary brooding pose while Sakura pasted googly eyes in his direction.

Now that the two main actors had come on to the stage (at least according to Sakura's mind) it was time for the supporting cast. Of the two remaining missing people, the first to arrive would be a blond in a horrendous jumpsuit, who would proceed to greet Sakura, get insulted in return, then insult Sasuke only to get beaten up by Sakura. This would culminate in one genin holding his head and whining, one brooding, and the last alternately hissing at the first and fawning over the second until their extremely tardy sensei would arrive in the wake of a bad excuse.

Only today, something was different. It had already been an hour since Sasuke had arrived, but there was no sign of the blond knucklehead. Not that Sakura minded it at all. Not having him around meant that she had more time to watch Sasuke-kun…

Not that she wasn't going to hit the idiot when he finally showed his face, though. She frowned. He was probably getting late on purpose because of Sasuke, she thought, looking at the genius in question who was staring into the distance, glaring even more than was usual for him. He had only been released from the hospital yesterday, and this meeting had been called to 'reacquaint them with team tactics'; at least that was Kakashi-sensei had said when she had asked.

Speaking of which, where _were_ they? Kakashi-sensei she wouldn't expect for another hour, but Naruto? A deep frown on her face, and equipped with tightened fist, she waited for her teammate to arrive. And she waited. And waited. And waited some more.

Almost all of the allocated hour had passed before she spied a figure strolling along the footpath leading to the bridge. The person was apparently holding a very engaging conversation, judging by the earnest hand gestures he made, but to her confusion she couldn't see who he was conversing with. Then, to her confusion, the figure suddenly spun around before apparently trying to hug air.

"There is someone invisible." Sasuke's monotonous voice cut into Sakura's thoughts. "I can see its chakra, but the Sharingan can't see through whatever genjutsu they're using." The boy had straightened from his slouch, crimson Sharingan glaring in the direction of the intruders. There was a look of immense frustration on his face; he obviously did not like the fact that something could be hidden from his Sharingan.

After the rather strange looking hug, the figure waved at the invisible figure before slowly shambling towards them, his hands casually stuck inside the pockets of his… orange jumpsuit?

"Naruto!" With a war cry, Sakura leapt towards her absentee teammate. She fully expected to meet Naruto's skull, which she would proceed to drive to the ground. Which was why she was surprised when her fist instead met a steady forearm, bringing her charge to an abrupt halt. She looked up, meeting Naruto's face to berate him for daring him for daring to be almost late for the team meeting, only to do a double-take.

"Naruto?" At her bewildered tone, Sasuke looked up in apparent interest.

"Hn. You look even stupider with that hair, dobe." He sneered, which caused Sakura to smirk herself. "Yeah, Naruto-baka! You look even more stupid than you were earlier!"

Naruto could feel his blood pumping in his ears as he fought to control his blind rage. He had gone into the meeting hoping for an amicable split; however it was evident it was not to be. He found that strangely, he did not mind. Somewhere in his realignment of priorities something had changed his perspective as far as his team was concerned. Before they were friends that had scorned him; subject of his anger, and a cause of disappointment to him. Now they were, in his eyes, a group that had taken advantage of his emotional dependence on them to use him as a convenient outlet for their frustrations. The very thought brought a white-hot haze to his thoughts; if there was thing he absolutely hated, it was being used as a scapegoat.

His thoughts were clearer than before, his mind slipping into that sharp equilibrium, that strange calm that he had only achieved in the middle of battle, when fighting for his life. Now, as far as he was concerned, they were the outside, the enemy. And even if his combat skills may have been lacking, Naruto knew how to fight; he had been doing that since he was born. And right now, he had to hurt them verbally enough so that one of them initiated a physical bout. His chakra was beating a tattoo against his body, eager to form chains that he knew instinctively that he could form.

Naruto ignored Sakura's comments as he stared into Sasuke's eyes, which shifted to Sharingan in challenge. At the sight of the doujutsu, his chakra surged in frenzy, yearning to break through the surface in sudden murderous intent. He then smirked derisively. "I'll ask for your opinion when you can defeat your brother, teme."

Sasuke went into a murderous rage, as he yelled and dove at Naruto, a snarl on his lips and a kunai in his hand, only to get pulled back by his collar as a hand clamped down on it. The man to whom the hand belonged was tall, with a shock of silver hair that leaned to his left. It was encircled by a slanted hitai-ite that covered his left eye, and he was wearing a flak jacket, and the official Konoha jounin uniform. Hatake Kakashi had arrived.

"Let go – "

"Ne, ne, Sasuke-kun, calm down. Now Naruto, that was a little excessive, was it not?" He said mildly, not looking up from his ever present Icha-Icha.

Naruto stiffened, before shrugging dismissively. "He started it."

"Why you-"

"Sasuke." Kakashi barked out. Sasuke subsided, still glowering at an unrepentant Naruto. Sakura was still shell-shocked at the exchange that had taken place, but at hearing Sasuke's yell she gathered herself.

"Don't talk to Sasuke-kun like that, Naruto-baka!" With a yell, she attempted to hammer Naruto to the ground, only to be stopped again when Naruto sidestepped it. As Sakura stumbled, off balance, she was steadied by a hand on her wrist, before it was jerked backwards, making her spin around to come face to face with a livid Naruto. "Haruno-san." He hissed at the surprised kunoichi's face. "I would _prefer_ if you didn't attempt to physically assault me again. Understood?"

Sakura nodded dumbly. The change of hair colour and complexion had changed Naruto's looks drastically. With the blood red locks draping his cheekbones and framing his pale, bloodless face, combined with his brilliant piercing blue eyes, Naruto suddenly looked 10 years older.

Sniffing dismissively, Naruto turned towards Kakashi, whose one visible eye had widened considerably during the exchange between Naruto and Sakura. Closing his book and dropping it into his supply pouch, he looked at Naruto, his eyes widening a bit more when he saw Naruto's face. "Naruto, stand down, or I'll have to report you for insubordination."

Naruto's eyes met Kakashi's, and his smirk grew wider. "Jounin Sensei Hatake Kakashi-san," he started using the formal title in lieu of the more commonly used 'Kakashi-sensei'. Kakashi looked positively startled; even Sasuke had stopped his struggling at the surprise of hearing Naruto speak in a formal tone. "I regret to inform you that I shall be unable to participate in this exercise."

Naruto's grin was positively malicious now, as Kakashi opened his mouth to berate him. 'Time to spring the trap', he thought, thinking back to the plan they had hatched in the Hokage Tower between him, Tsunade and Mito. He straightened up his expression to deliver the message.

"By order of the Godaime Hokage Senju Tsunade, I, Genin Uzumaki Naruto, Shinobi ID 012607, have been relieved of duties in the Genin Team 7 due to impending Clan Matters, as pursuant to the Section E, of the 34th Chapter of the Konoha Charter."

Bowing slightly towards a stupefied Kakashi, he dug into his pouch, and producing a gold leaf embroidered scroll that was used for Official orders from the Hokage Tower, he handed it to Kakashi. Absentmindedly opening the scroll, Kakashi asked, "Clan Matters?"

Sasuke scoffed, interrupting the conversation. "You, Clan? However much you lie, you're still a clanless loser, loser." Turning to Kakashi, he added, "Come on, Kakashi," Naruto scowled when he noticed Kakashi ignore the insult, "throw away that scroll and let's get a mission over with; I need to train. Besides, the dobe probably found the scroll in the trash."

"Shut up, _Uchiha. _Don't infest the air of the others with your vile tongue." Naruto was about to continue, when he was interrupted by Sakura, who spoke in a wondering tone. "Section E of the 34th Chapter… But that's the Premature Inauguration of Clan Head Clause, of the Clan Extinction Act!"

Then she gave Naruto a scathing look. "Now you've done it, Naruto-baka! At least read the charter before you try to quote it. Baka! That only applies to Clan heirs! When Tsunade-sama hears you impersonated her…"

Kakashi interrupted her in turn, his voice almost a whisper, yet carrying in the tense air that had traces of killing intent aimed at Sakura from Naruto. "This is a valid document." Sakura's jaw dropped; if that was true, surely she would have heard of an Uzumaki Clan in Konoha? Not to mention that Naruto was a clanless orphan; everyone knew that.

"However," Kakashi continued, "This clause requires the Clan in question have an interim Clan Head with a blood relation to the Clan in question?"

Naruto pointed at the scroll. "It's signed by baa-chan. She's of Uzumaki stock, two generations removed, via her grandmother Uzumaki Mito, who became Senju Mito, Wife of the Shodaime. Cool, aint'it?"

Kakashi was looking annoyed and rather taken aback, while Sasuke was frowning fiercely and Sakura looked totally lost. Sasuke's expression, however, was the one that Naruto savoured the most, since baa-chan had told him of the cause. Apparently the lack of non-Uchiha containing Uchiha blood owing to the rather fanatic 'pruning' done by the clan meant that Sasuke himself could not ascend to the title of Clan Head without the abdication of Uchiha Itachi, who even with his missing-nin status still was the recognised Clan Heir.

"I think this is done. Baa-chan wants you to report to her office to discuss replacements." He turned to walk away. "By the way, Kakashi-sensei," he paused at the edge of the clearing, "My father would've been ashamed at the way you treated me after all he's done for you."

His last view of the remnants of team 7 before he disappeared into the forest were of Sakura and Sasuke staring at him with a mixture of confusion and anger, while Kakashi simply stared at him, his one eye wide open in shock.

…

Naruto walked into his apartment, completely exhausted. Entering through the window, he proceeded to stumble towards the battered couch before he sank into it with a groan.

He barely stirred when a voice floated from his kitchen. "Tough day?"

He merely gave a groan in answer.

"Tsu-Tsu said she'll come over tonight."

He grunted, only for a spatula to fly into his face from the open kitchen door. It was followed by a faux-angry voice, "Don't grunt like an Uchiha!"

"Leave me be, Ghost Lady."

"Now that won't do, you know," said a figure framing the kitchen door, holding a ladle. "Get your sorry carcass out here and eat."

Naruto groaned again, before ducking suddenly as a ladle flew past where his head would've been. Raising his head warily over the backrest, he saw one of the more bizarre sights he had seen in his life as a resident of a ninja village. A translucent person, dressed in a translucent kimono, over which a _very _solid looking flowery apron, which he recognized as a gag-gift he had gotten from Ayame, was tied. He probably would have broken out in giggles, if not for the fact that ladle that had been thrown still vibrated in the wall behind him; its handle sunk a good foot into the mortar of the wall.

Repressing an involuntary shiver, Naruto wearily staggered out of the sofa and into the kitchen, where a bowl of steaming ramen was waiting for him. With a content sigh, he sank into his seat and began slowly lapping at the noodles. Then Mito came up to the table removing the apron before she took a seat opposite him, watching him eat.

After a while, the insistent stare became too much for Naruto. "What do you want?"

Mito gave a sad smile. "It's a strange feeling, isn't it?"

Naruto blinked at the apparent non-sequitur. At his puzzled face, Mito elaborated. "To let go of them, I mean."

"What do you mean?"

Naruto's brusque reply did nothing to change Mito's expression, and for some reason it grated on Naruto's nerves. "I mean that it's obvious that the team split didn't happen exactly the way you wanted it to."

Naruto's head, which had been nodding nearer and nearer to the ramen bowl, jerked upwards at that comment. A startled whisper broke through his lips, "How did you know?"

Mito met his eyes, a shadow of a grin gracing her face. "Really? You stumble into the apartment hours after you were supposed to, looking like you're dead on your feet and covered in wood chips, and you ask me how I know?"

As Naruto groaned, mortified, Mito slowly placed a hand on his shoulder. "Look at me, Naruto-kun." She whispered to him. Naruto hesitantly leaned into Mito's hand, looking at her, looking lost.

Slowly, she got up from her seat, only to plop into a seat beside Naruto and pull the boy into a hug. "Come on, Naruto-kun," she coaxed, "tell me what troubles you, and don't leave out what you did to those poor, poor trees!"

As the evening wore on, she managed to gradually pry the story from Naruto.

"So, do you think I was too harsh on them?" Naruto asked, sprawled on the chair, cuddling up to her. She had soon found that Naruto had an affinity for physical displays of affection. Probably from the relative isolation he had suffered during his childhood, she thought. Anyway, she had to concentrate on his words. Naruto seemed very fragile emotionally, and what she said now could possibly have many results.

"Well," she started, wetting her lips, "if you had asked it out of context, I probably would have said yes." Naruto flinched at that. "However, with how they have treated you and how they _continue_ to treat you," she continued, stressing the point of the continuing belittling he had endured even during the short exchange that had taken place, "I have to say they deserved it." Giving Naruto a fond smile, she got up from her seat. "Come along Naruto-kun, as much fun as it was to rail at those fools, you don't want to be late."

"Huh?"

She had to conceal a smile at that. "Don't you want to learn how to wield those chains of yours?"

…

Kakashi walked to the Hokage Tower in a daze. Having dismissed his team – what remained of his team, he reminded himself bitterly – early, he was going to meet Tsunade-sama to get some answers.

In Konoha, removing a genin from their genin team was unusual. This was because of the principle of teamwork which was one of the first things beaten into the heads of prospective shinobi, made compulsory in one of the first orders at the start of the Sandaime's first reign. In Konoha, a genin team was family. They ate together, they camped together, and they killed together. A genin team was a mesh of personalities, with each member knowing the inner workings of the others mind. This was why most teams stuck together even after the promotions of the genin members. This was also why it was considered almost heresy to even consider removing a genin from a genin team. Removing a genin without the consent of the Jounin Leader, however, was unheard of.

Now, Kakashi knew that his team was quite a bit less than solid, when compared to the other genin teams out there. However he _had_ been getting there. Naruto tended to think things through a bit more and did not complain as much when he was delegated to the brute force parts of the missions, Sasuke was getting increasingly cooperative, and Sakura was… getting serious, he supposed? Anyway, Naruto had quit at the worst possible point for the team, and what he said prior to quitting had not helped. Sakura was still looking a bit stunned when he had dismissed them, while Sasuke, when he snapped out of his own shock, would surely end up on a murderous rampage. And him? He was still digesting the caustic words that Naruto had spit back at him before leaving the clearing. And he had definitely heard the hint of disappointment and accusation in his tone, and it ate at him in a way it had not done in a long time. Maybe he was going soft?

Not to mention the fact that Naruto seemed to actually know his pedigree. Of course, Tsunade-sama might have told him, but why now?

So engrossed in figuring out his own thoughts was he, that he didn't even notice the fact he was nearing the Hokage Tower until he had already crossed the threshold.

So he was a bit surprised when he was hurriedly ushered into the Hokage Office, past a crew of chunin and what looked like Mokuton no Tenzo.

Entering the office found Kakashi hurriedly stripped of his daydreaming. The office was a mess, with several parts of the wooden office looking newly grown. There were uncleared wood chips scattered around the floor, and an annoyed, completely sober Hokage trying to stare a hole through his head. Already this was _not _how he had envisioned the meeting going.

Kakashi quailed uneasily as Tsunade's stare did not let up. "Umm… Tsunade-sama… maybe I can come back later?"

Slowly, oh so slowly, Tsunade's stony face faded into a predatory smirk that looked petrifying on the kunoichi. Kakashi slowly edged backwards.

"Ah, there you are, Kakashi-san! You're early for once, how… unexpected!"

Kakashi giggled nervously. "Umm…The road of life had a shortcut?"

Tsunade sighed. "Sit down, Kakashi-san. We need to talk about your team."

Kakashi took the seat absently brushing off debris, before he started talking. "Excuse me Tsunade-sama, but don't you think that Naruto's removal from Team 7 is rather…"

"Sudden? Of course it is, but that was intended." Tsunade said, steepling her fingers in front of her as she leaned forward on her desk. Somehow, that slight movement seemed almost threatening. "It gives those old fogies on the council less reason to try to _persuade_ me to change my mind, and," she shot Kakashi an indecipherable look, "it gets him away from an abusive team, as soon as possible."

"?!"

As Kakashi half rose from his seat in protest, Tsunade snapped at him. "All of you _were_ abusive to him, and don't you dare try to deny it!"

Letting out a calming breath, she continued picking apart the sensei of Team 7. "Let me ask you a simple question, Kakashi-san. You've had Naruto in the team for almost seven months. What exactly have you taught him?"

Kakashi stuttered at the blunt question. "I-I taught him chakra control exercises, and teamwork exercises, and…"

Tsunade talked over his stuttering, cutting him off. "Any _actual_ techniques?"

"Well no, but his basics were too bad for him to learn…"

"Not mentioning the fact that he learned an A-Rank jutsu, the Rasengan, within a week?"

"Impossible! He doesn't have the chakra control!

" I should haveknown you wouldn't even know. What about taijutsu?"

"His bases are all off balance, he overextends on every other punch, and his technique is so bad that most of his blows have most of their power leeched off by the time they make contact."

Tsunade raised an eyebrow. "Indeed? And have you ever told _him_ that, or at least attempted to correct it?

"If I may interrupt, Tsunade-sama, I told him to practice his kata, what else do you expect me to do? If he wasn't motivated to improve himself, am I supposed to ditch the students who are actually willing to learn for a student who couldn't be bothered to learn when he should? I told him to polish off his basics, while I taught the others to survive. It wasn't like he was going to die anyway, with that healing factor! He could afford to wait until he catches up, and I can't allow the others to suffer for it!"

Here he was cut off abruptly by a spike of killing intent. Suddenly it was difficult to move as an enormous chakra presence slammed into his senses like a sledgehammer. The air around Tsunade was starting to get hazy; she looked absolutely _livid_. Pressing both of her palms onto the table, she leaned over the table, glaring at a paralyzed Kakashi. When she spoke, every word she bit out seemed like a malediction.

"You-You- Miserable excuse for a human! Do you willingly ignore what goes around you, or are you really that blind?" Her long fingernails grooves in the wooden desk, her fingers twitching, as if expressing the desire to close around Kakashi's neck. "Naruto lacks basics for one very simple reason, one that even an oblivious simpleton should understand! Tell me Kakashi-san, did you really think your sensei's _son, _the _Kyuubi Jinchuuriki,_ would not be subject to sabotage, when you yourself were a part of his guard patrols once?"

Seeing Kakashi start, Tsunade scoffed. "Do you know how I knew that? Naruto told me that. He recognized you from the scent the first time you called a team meeting. I imagine you didn't even know that he had enhanced senses, did you?" Taking his silence as the answer, she continued, "Imagine when he found out that the man that had rescued him from an assassination when he was 5 could turn out to be just as judgmental and narrow-minded as the rest of them? It took him a long time to stop believing in you, you know; every time you rejected him for that _clearly_ unbalanced Uchiha, he just came back, thinking that it would be different the next time. He's just stubborn that way, I suppose, but you know what happens when people stubborn people lose hope? They break. And understand this, Kakashi-san; I. Will. Not. Let. Him. Break."

She left her seat, pacing around the office. Kakashi didn't even dare to breath; the killing intent had not faded at all.

"Let me make this very clear, Kakashi-san," she enunciated, clearly trying to keep hold of her temper, "I think of Naruto as a grandson, and by blood relation, I can declare it so. I came back to this place that seems to have taken a collective _dump_ on my grandfather's dream since I left, because of him. A leaderless Konoha is not being invaded by Iwa right now because of him, and the rebuilding of the damaged sectors are going so fast because of Wave Country's support, which we have because of him, as is the fact that this place is not covered in sand right now by a rampaging jinchuuriki. That is, of course, not considering the fact that he is the heir to a clan that sacrificed themselves for this place, and the _personal_ sacrifice both he, and his parents, have made to Konoha."

She scoffed, leaning in front of Kakashi's chair to get in his face. "And the fact that the ungrateful bastards that call this place home, including those that the family entrusted with his protection all shun him, _disgusts me._ I don't know how he doesn't hate this place yet; I certainly would, if I had lived his life. However, seeing as he _doesn't _just want to get out of this dump, I can't remove him from it, however much I would like to."

"I'm not Sarutobi-sensei, Kakashi-san. I'm not old, and I have not grown tired. I will not let things slide just because the resultant hornet's nest is too troublesome to handle. And so far, the first thing I have noticed is the village-wide disregard for an order of a Hokage, and as long as I sit on this blasted chair, that I will not allow!"

Observing Kakashi with a critical eye, she sneered. "Look at yourself, Kakashi-san. A supposed borderline S-rank ninja, cowering like a genin. I was out of active duty for almost 15 years, yet you, the 27 year old, are the one who has gone to seed. At your age Sakumo could match Sarutobi-sensei's killing intent."

Kakashi tried to speak, when the killing intent spiked yet again, and Kakashi was left gasping for breath. Tsunade didn't even seem to notice the effort, however the office was now rippling as Tsunade's Earth natured chakra tried to alter the wooden floor, and waves of chakra were crashing against the walls saturating the room in a heat haze of chakra. "Anyway, we seem to have strayed from the topic, haven't we? As his Jounin-sensei, however useless you might have been as one, I suppose you deserve to at least hear what is going to happen to your ex-genin; because be certain, as long as I am Hokage, he will never be your direct subordinate again." Kakashi drooped in his chair at the announcement.

"Naruto unlocked his Uzumaki bloodline yesterday." She continued. "The process involved has resulted in some cosmetic changes, as you might have noticed?"

Kakashi nodded dumbly. Even though the killing intent was slowly petering off, he still felt like prey in the mouth of a predator. Tsunade slowly circled back to her seat and sat down, never once taking her eyes off of Kakashi.

"This is the reason that precipitated the removal of Naruto from the team, but make no mistake: It was going to happen anyway. Your actions have also prompted me to start an overall investigation of the Genin teams of Konoha; we can't have them all slacking off, can we? As for your team, Team 7 is being formally dissolved."

"B-But, Tsunade-sama…"

"Come now, Kakashi-san. Did you really expect me to keep you in command after the fiasco you seem to have made? Sakura will be inducted into the Medical Corps while Sasuke will be officially registered as your apprentice if you want, since you seem hell-bent on only teaching him anyway. Finally, you will need to attend Naruto's Ascension of Clan Head ceremony, as all available Jounin do, at the Council Gathering in two month's time. You're dismissed."

…

"Yes, they are quite beautiful, don't you think?"

"Yeah…" Naruto breathed, spellbound, looking up at the two wraith-like oriental dragons entwining around themselves as the climbed ever higher into the air, climbing, dipping, undulating in an entrancing display of beauty. This was only enhanced by the light of the dying sun, which the dragons were being exposed to, making the dragons glow in the colours of the rainbow, sparkling like crystal.

"You know, some people's expressions change mid-life. My fathers did, after my sisters died in an ambush by the Uchiha clan. He used to have scrolls, before his rage caused him to express chains." Mito observed, also staring at the brilliant chakra constructs issuing from her hands. "You know, you can tell much about the character of an Uzumaki by the type of expression shown."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, our chakra expressions vary with our personalities, and each expression has different uses. For example, my _Illusionary Dragons _are incorporeal, but they can be used to transfer contact genjutsu as you saw in my… uh, little scuffle with the ANBU." Mito had the grace to blush a little. "They usually express in people with calm and attentive personalities, and they usually have rather low chakra levels for Uzumaki, but they exhibit good chakra control."

She pointed at Naruto. "Your _Spiked Chains _expression on the other hand is corporeal, and rather more chakra intensive. They can be utilized in barriers, as flails and whips, and be used to channel battle fuinjutsu. My brother used to channel explosive tags," she chuckled, "whenever he stepped into a battlefield the whole area was full of potholes by the end. Your mother's Chakra chains, on the other hand, were saturated with her jinchuuriki seal. That gave it chakra suppression abilities. Anyway, this is a warrior's expression; It shows in people with loud tempers and louder personalities."

"Hey!" Naruto mock protested.

Mito giggled. "My mother on the hand, expressed _Shadow Tendrils_, which is actually one of the rarest expressions around; it gave her a complete understanding of all chakra sources around her, and the ability to completely suppress her own chakra; she could even channel healing chakra through them. It expressed in people with a sensitive, romantic nature. And before you ask, yes, my mother was a sap for romance, wouldn't stop whenever Hashirama came over on clan business." Naruto stifled a giggle at Mito's expression; who knew family members were such fun?

Slightly scowling, Mito continued. "Now the _Sealing Scripts, _which was my father's original expression, was a scholar's and sealing expert's expression. It would channel raw chakra, making it invaluable for sealers, and it could be used to form instant seals in midair. It was expressed in people of a studious nature."

Slowly, she let the chakra dragons fade. As the iridescent dragons slowly faded upwards, Mito turned towards Naruto, slowly leading him towards a rock formation near the clearing.

"Sit down."

"Huh?"

"The first step in accessing your expression is to calm your spirit." Mito said, serenely settling into seiza, facing Naruto. Looking somewhat bemused, Naruto followed suit. "Now close your eyes."

Naruto hesitantly closed his eyes, only for the world to seemingly burst open a few moments later. Reflexively, he threw his eyes open as he yelled out in shock, only to see Mito's amused face looking back at him. "W-What was that?" He asked hesitantly.

"Your first experience in being a true Uzumaki." Mito stated, elaborating when Naruto stared at her. "The Uzumaki are a clan that shares a close bond with chakra, much more than other ninja. And people, especially ninja, do not like being deprived of their sight. Therefore when a shinobi meditates, they begin to gain a slight sense of their surroundings from chakra sensing. It is simply much more acute in an Uzumaki."

When Naruto regained his posture, Mito spoke again. "We'll have to adapt you chakra sensing later; for now, keep your eyes open, and slowly, try to match your breath with your heartbeat. Come on, short breaths, continuously!"

Lub. Dub. Inhale.

Lub. Dub. Exhale.

Inhale.

Exhale.

Slowly, he could feel his body relax, his muscles uncoiling, and in the background he began to feel a rhythmic pulsing, which was strangely out of beat…

Mito's hypnotic voice washed over him. "Can you feel another pulsing?"

"Yes." He whispered back, afraid to disrupt this moment. It felt somehow important that he not break this calm.

"Good. That is your chakra. Now, slowly, coerce that pulse to match your body's beat; start giving it a steady push/pull." And so he slowly began teasing the pulse, slowing it down, speeding it up, until its beat matched his heartbeat _and_ his breathing.

"Ghost lady, I did it." He said, his own voice sounding strange to his ears.

"Good. Now, while concentrating on balancing the beats, tell me about the fight in the Invasion. You know, the one you said Gaara tried to kill you in?"

As Naruto described his fight, he found that strangely his emotions didn't seem to be expressed; it was as if there was an abyss separating him from the outside world, and it was widening. When he was getting to the parts where the action had been thickened, his voice began to get drowned, buried under the surging blood pounding through his veins, his quickening breath and the roar of chakra as it rushed in his coils. His surroundings began to get replaced, and suddenly he was back in the clearing in the forest, with a huge clawed hand made of sand was descending towards him. He was frozen, his chakra rushing past his ears. Then, with a feeling like a sudden vacuum, he felt as if his body was extending, and then his body was cocooned in a cage of three crisscrossed spiked chains that were glowing a bright gold.

"Well done, Naruto-kun." Mito's voice cut through Naruto's panic. The world cleared, and he found himself sitting in seiza, with his chakra chains still forming a cage around him. There was only one difference; Mito was sitting in front of him, one chakra dragon sprouting from her extended hand to bury into his chest. His eyes widened in realization.

"You put me in a genjutsu!"

Mito gave him a toothy grin that looked _extremely_ out of place on her face. "If it works, you know?" She said nonchalantly.

Naruto stared at her unrepentant face incredulously, before the humour of the situation sank in, along with the exhilaration of _truly _bringing his Kekkei genkai out. Then a giggle escaped his lips, then a guffaw, before laughter was ringing across the secluded grounds.

Mito looked at Naruto, who was now leaning back on his hands, laughing as the three spiked chains were wagging behind him, mimicking golden tails.

Slowly getting up, she held out a hand for Naruto. "Come along, Naruto-kun. How about I teach you the first exercise we had to do to control the chains, back in Uzu?" Mito proposed, as Naruto took the proffered hand, still giggling, with his chains hovering around him.

"And what would that be?"

Mito gave a cheeky grin. "It's called the chain waltz. Want to learn how to make your chains dance?"

Naruto bowed playfully. "Lead the way, Madam."

…

Night had fallen, and four figures were crouched on the treetops.

"Shall we?" A rough male voice enquired impatiently.

"Yeah! What the fuck are you waiting for, shithead?" A female voice hissed.

"Quiet!" A soft male voice declared. "We do not appear until Sasuke-sama is alone, that was Orochimaru-sama's orders."

Just then, a rustling sound was heard as a tall ninja with a headband over one eye strolled out of the house under watch, before shunshining away.

Sakon smiled, the black tattoo of the curse mark racing down his torso. "Sound Four, move out."

**A.N. **

The _Shadow Tendrils _is based upon Karin's Mind's Eye of the Kagura. The _Sealing Scripts _is based on Honoka's ability in the filler episode The Forgotten Island.

And that's that.


	5. The Betrayal

**A.N. **The fifth installment of the Tales of the Arcane! Sorry for the delay, I was stuck with work. Now I've received some complaints about the portrayal of Naruto in the earlier chapter. I'm sorry for the upset, but the reason for it will be implied in this chapter. As for the somewhat archaic language used by Naruto inconsistently, I figured that a person who suddenly gains family from having nothing would instinctively begin aping the family members in order to fit in. In this case, Naruto is aping Mito, who has been described as having a rather courtly, stiff personality in public.

As for this chapter, ye be warned! Tayuya's conversation has not been censored, appearing in its original expletive-filled dialogues as much as I could reproduce it. So, do not be surprised by the sudden appearance of swear-words.

This story has just crossed the 200 favs and 50 reviews milestones. Thank you!

Right. Enough of my rant.

Please review.

_Diclaimer: I find the fact that Madara turned into a woman spontaneously more than slightly disturbing. So no, I do not own Naruto. That dubious honour goes to Masashi Kishimoto._

_Chapter 5 : The Betrayal_

…

_Beware, of his promise  
Believe, what I say  
Before, I go forever  
Be sure, of what you say_

**_The Night – Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons_**

…

A frantic knocking roused a sleeping Naruto. "Hey Naruto, get up!"

Huh? What was Shikamaru doing at his apartment? Rolling out of the couch which was his temporary bed, he sleepily stumbled to his door.

Upon opening it, Shikamaru almost tumbled into his apartment, before he started at Naruto's hair. "Troublesome."

Naruto grinned sleepily. "Sorry Shika, long story. I'll tell you another time."

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow. "I don't want to know, you troublesome person," he grumbled, "Anyway, get ready, mission, one hour, north gate."

Naruto simply stared at him confusedly. "What do you mean? I'm on training leave!"

Shikamaru palmed his face, exasperated. "Troublesome. Sasuke left the village yesterday-"

"What!"

"-and apparently the village is still shorthanded after the invasion, so Tsunade-sama told me to pick a team to go after them, and to take you."

At that, Naruto's mind began to work, shrugging off the last remnants of sleep. Why had baa-chan told Shikamaru to specifically get him? After a moment, he got his answer. Ghost Lady. Seeing as she couldn't spare any higher class shinobi, it was obvious she wanted another safety net for the mission.

"Um… All right, I'll be there… Who are the others in the team?"

Shikamaru shrugged. "Well, I was thinking of Chouji, and Kiba, and maybe Hinata or Neji."

"What about Bushy-Brow?"

"Lee? He's still in the hospital."

Naruto thought about the group. "Take the bun-girl, I think her name is Tenten? We're going to need a sniper; all of us are close range other than you," he said finally.

Shikamaru nodded absently. "I'll ask Neji to tell her. Come with me to ask the others?"

Naruto shook his head. "No, I've got some things to figure out. Meet you at the gate." He turned to go back inside. Shikamaru sighed.

"Troublesome."

Turning back with a lazy wave, "And Naruto, do something to your hair. I don't want everyone gaping at it during the mission."

"You just don't want the chatter, you lazy bum." Naruto replied.

"Troublesome."

As soon as Shikamaru had left, Naruto was cursing up a storm in the kitchen, until he was interrupted by a sleepy female voice. "Naruto-kun, shut up before I kill you!"

Naruto yelled back. "Ghost Lady, get up! Baa-chan needs you!"

A sleepy mumble answered him, and Naruto sweatdropped. Who knew that the courtly Mito-sama was emphatically _not_ an early riser? Repeated tries yielding only various versions of 'Go away' and assorted death threats, Naruto finally, in sheer desperation, did the one thing that would wake up any shinobi.

"Ghost Lady! Code Red!"

There was a muted expletive from her room, before a series of thuds were heard. Finally, a disgruntled Mito opened the door and stepped out cautiously, one hand on her hair buns grabbing a senbon she had used to pin up her hair. The door, Naruto realized with a shiver, was totally covered in senbon to the point it looked like a hedgehog. Seriously how many senbon _did_ she hide in her hair?

Mito was growling in irritation as she analyzed the situation and found no imminent threat. With an incensed look on her face, she stalked towards a cringing Naruto, jabbing a finger to his chest. "You. Never. Do. That. For. A. Prank!"

Naruto waved his hands frantically, trying to pacify her. "Sorry, sorry, but it really was an emergency and you were not waking up, and if you make me late baa-chan's going to kill me, and Shika's going to suspect, and we're going to be late, dattebayo!"

By now Mito was completely confused. "Slow down, Naruto-kun. What's happened, and for what would we be late?"

Naruto scowled. "The teme left the village last night, and baa-chan told Shika to get me. I think she wants to be available as backup; apparently no other chunin or jonin could be spared."

Mito scoffed. "Uchiha. All of that blasted clan think they're god's own gift to the world. And now, what with that massacre you told me about, I think the total number of Uchiha in the village is… zero?"

"Yup. That's why the village is in such a tiffy; apparently the 'Last Uchiha' is too valuable to go missing." He scoffed bitterly. "Personally speaking, if the bastard was stupid enough to abandon Konoha for the guy who killed the Old Man, he deserves a slow death."

Mito laid a calming hand on his shoulder. "Why would you think its Orochimaru he's run off to?"

"Where else would he go? The snake freak pretty much gave him an invitation at the Forest of Death, and he knows he's too weak to kill his brother right now, what with Itachi putting him to a coma the last time they met."

Feeling the emotions flowing off the young redhead, Mito awkwardly asked, "Naruto-kun, what are you going to do when you find him."

Naruto's scowl deepened. "I'm going to give him exactly one chance to surrender, before I deal with him as any deserter would be. Execution."

The finality in his tone shocked Mito before she realized the true cause for Naruto's bitterness. Seeing the whole village praise the young Uchiha while shunning him must have been harder for him than even he realized. It was just not a case of loyalty, or even revenge, with Naruto anymore, though those factors undoubtedly contributed. No, this had a streak of jealousy, of possessiveness, all over it. Having yearned for what Sasuke had effortlessly got had left Naruto incapable of calmly dealing with the fact that Sasuke had spurned it.

Mito turned to prepare for the morning. "I'm going to meet with Tsu-tsu before the mission, and just to be clear, I won't interfere unless anyone's in mortal danger; in battle, my chakra use could interfere with your chakra unfavourably."

Naruto, who was searching for his kunai pouch, nodded absently. "Sure, see you at the gate, Ghost Lady."

"And when we get there, communicate with the Uzushio hand signs I taught you yesterday; we don't want your classmates to know of me unless it's absolutely necessary."

…

At the North Gate, a curious group of genin was gathering. Kiba was glaring at Neji, together with Akamaru who was growling. Tenten was polishing a kunai, and Chouji was calmly eating chips. Shikamaru had his head in his hands. A short distance away, invisible to the group, Mito was calmly perched on a nearby branch watching the group of genin.

"That troublesome Naruto… If we get late then Tsunade-sama is going to punish _me_…"

"Yeah! What's the deal, we don't need that guy!" Kiba interrupted. Shooting a glare at Neji, who continued to ignore him, he added, "And on top of that, Shikamaru, why do we need this jerk? Hinata would have been much better." Akamaru barked in agreement.

Shikamaru sighed. "Troublesome. Hinata is still not cleared for strenuous missions by Tsunade-sama, and Neji here has the strongest Byakugan in all the genin of the clan." He cracked a small grin. "Besides, Naruto recommended both Neji and Tenten."

"Huh?" Tenten had been distracted from polishing the kunai by Shikamaru's remark. "That blond orange midget?" Kiba snickered at her description. "I've never even met the guy! Why would he recommend me?"

"'Cause your Shurikenjutsu is awesome, dattebayo!" A loud voice behind them caused all of them to turn around to face the figure coming up the road towards them, even as Tenten blushed at the comment.

As the figure came closer several pairs of eyes widened in disbelief. Annoying verbal tick? Check. Glaring orange jumpsuit? Check. Whisker markings? Check. Blond Hair? Che… Huh?

With a moan, Shikamaru facepalmed. "Troublesome. Naruto, I told you to cover your head!"

Naruto just grinned. "And not see your faces? No thanks!"

Neji choose that particular moment to enter the conversation. "Naruto-san," he asked in a monotone, "why is your hair dyed red?"

Naruto rubbed his head sheepishly, taking the chance to do a few obscure hand signs behind his head. He was immediately tapped thrice on the shoulder. From Shikamaru's narrowed eyes, Naruto thought he probably didn't miss it. So much for obscurity.

"Eh heh, It's a long story, dattebayo."

Kiba snorted. "Knowing you, you probably fell into a vat of paint, dobe," he said dismissively.

Naruto reared up at the insult. "You want to go, Dog Boy?"

Shikamaru got up. "Everybody shut up!"

The group all went silent; even the gate guards were looking at them interestedly. After all, it wasn't often that you saw that most lazy species, the male Nara, raise their voice.

Shikamaru sighed. "Troublesome." Looking at the group, he mentally decided the formation. "All right, this mission is to retrieve Sasuke from what is speculated to be shinobi of Sound. From what is known, he went willingly."

The group's reactions were varied at this particular revelation, Shikamaru noticed. The most expressive were Kiba's, whose cursing and the growls of Akamaru let everyone know exactly what they thought. The ones least fazed were Neji, and to Shikamaru's surprise, Naruto who simply gritted his teeth. 'So it seems he isn't surprised that Sasuke went to Sound, but I never told him that,' he thought, 'Hmm. Interesting.'

"We will set off towards the Northern Borders with Rice Country, where Hidden Sound is rumoured to be. Kiba," Kiba looked up. "You and Akamaru take point. You are going to on the lookout for any scent trails of either Sasuke or the Sound shinobi. I assume you know the terrain?"

Kiba puffed up his chest. "Piece of cake! My mum used to take us tracking in these woods; I know them like the back of my hand! Ne, Akamaru?" A series of barks answered him.

Shikamaru continued, ignoring Kiba's exuberance. "I will be immediately behind Kiba, because I'm the team leader, and I will take the front. Tenten-san will be immediately behind me, because she is the sniper. Any objections?" Everybody shook their heads. "Naruto will cover the left, and he will stay to the left of the main formation, near the centre. In case of an attack, you will distract the enemy using your Kage Bunshin."

Naruto looked at him, uncomprehending. But before Shikamaru could elaborate, Naruto straightened up. "Got it! Stay to the left between you and Tenten-chan! Why didn't you just say so?" Shikamaru narrowed his eyes in suspicion, before he let out a long-suffering sigh. "Troublesome," he muttered under his breath, not taking his eyes off Naruto. Something strange was going on, and though this was his first time leading, he already knew that he didn't like it when his team had secrets.

"Right…" He drawled, before looking at Chouji. "Chouji, you take the same position as Naruto, but to the right. You will be the finisher of the team; you only engage when there is a clear target." Chouji simply nodded, still munching a chip.

Shikamaru turned to Neji. "Neji-san, you are our rear-guard. You take position behind Tenten-san, and I need you to do a full Byakugan scan over the area, every five minutes. If that is possible?" he asked Neji.

Neji nodded somewhat indignantly, as if Shikamaru had called his expertise into question.

Shikamaru took a deep breath. "All right then, let's move out."

Just as they were about to take to the trees, a yell came from behind them. "Wait!"

"What!" Shikamaru whined as they were delayed again. The person turned out to be a teary Sakura followed by a clearly reluctant Ino, which gave Shikamaru the beginnings of a headache. It only worsened when Sakura spotted Naruto. Instantly changing her demeanor, she marched up to him, a fisted hand reared back to punch him.

"Naruto! How dare you show your face, Sasuke left because of you, you dobe!"

The team was staring at Sakura, unsure as to what they should do. Naruto, Shikamaru noticed, had gone very still. Sakura seemingly saw it as well, for she froze in her attempt to punch Naruto. A faint pulse of killing intent issued from Naruto, blanketing the surrounding as he tilted his head, studying Sakura intently. Bluish wisps of chakra were emanating from his body, and Shikamaru's attention was drawn to the faint reddish tint it had taken, until he saw Naruto's face.

Naruto's face was drawn to an expression that Shikamaru would have sworn a month ago would never be present on Naruto's face, especially towards Sakura, his presumed crush. The malicious smirk on his face, combined with the red hair, – Shikamaru had never before noticed just how much like fresh blood it looked, dripping down his face in a lanky curtain – it gave Naruto a chilling resemblance to a homicidal Gaara.

"Why Sakura, do you think your boyfriend running away had anything to do with me?" He took a step towards Sakura and she instinctively stepped back. Shikamaru's hands were halfway into the sign for Kagemane no jutsu before he remembered himself. Surely it would not come to blows?

Naruto's face twisted in amusement, though his lengthening fingernails gave lie to his expression. "Though it _is_ possible that he only stayed in Konoha because he wanted to be with me… How wonderful, I had a fangirl and didn't even know it! Don't you think it's a pity, Shikamaru?"

"Naruto…" He said warningly, ready to step in. Naruto gave him a dismissive glance. "Cool down, Shika. This is just a little union between ex-teammates, isn't it, Sakura-_chan_?"

Sakura swallowed. Naruto's smirk widened to the extent that it looked toothy, canines glinting. "Now, now, Sakura. No need to act so scared, I'm sure you weren't going to hit me now, were you? Good, you can learn after all. What a surprise! Now as for your little boyfriend, he left the village, and unless he has a very good excuse, he is a traitor to the village. And do you know Konoha's policy towards traitors, Sakura? Of course you do, what with that huge brain of yours, don't you? If he resists capture, and if I know Sasuke he will, he will be killed. I'll probably do it myself; he wouldn't be the first traitor I've dealt with. After Mizuki-sensei, Sasuke won't be a problem."

Ignoring the others' gasps, Naruto leaned in to Sakura's horrified face, eyes tinged with red. "So if you want to see your dear Sasuke-kun alive again, my dear Sakura-_chan_, your better pray your pretty little head off that he listens to reason." He turned his back to Sakura, who was now shaking. "Personally, I doubt it."

With his last statement hanging around the gathered shinobi like a death knell, he leapt towards the treeline and out of the Gate. "You guys coming?"

With a sigh and an apologetic look towards Ino, Shikamaru gave the signal and the Sasuke Retrieval Team leapt towards the trees, leaving a shocked Ino and a terrified Sakura standing in the middle of the road.

…

Half an hour into the sprint, Kiba had found the trails of Sasuke and the Sound shinobi, right up until the scent of Sasuke had disappeared. Figuring Sasuke was simply being carried by the Sound shinobi, though he did not know the reason, Shikamaru had ordered the team to trail the scent of the Sound shinobi. They had met a team of wounded patrolling jounin along the way; Raido and Genma if Shikamaru's memory served, and both had met and been defeated by the Sound.

According to their report, the group had consisted of four Sound Jounin, who had all shifted to what they had described as a 'monster form'. One had carried a barrel of sorts that they said was covered in seals, which Shikamaru guessed was where they kept Sasuke. However, a reason for doing so eluded him. Shikamaru sighed; he really hated this sort of situations, where critical information was missing.

Of course, this was not the only thing bothering him. His team was uneasy. Even Kiba, who was notorious for being chatty during missions, was keeping quiet, only speaking when necessary and casting wary glances at a still fuming Naruto. Unease was hanging around the team like a blanket, and Naruto's continuing ill temper was beginning to wear upon them.

Shikamaru had to admit that the scene at the North Gate had intimidated even him a little. Naruto had always been that somewhat stupid, clumsy showoff that no one took seriously. Never had he seen Naruto so intimidating; at the Gate Naruto had looked almost feral.

"…maru-san! Shikamaru-san!"

Shikamaru looked at Neji, who had been the one who had called. "Yes, Neji-san?"

Neji had his Byakugan active. "Four targets directly ahead, carrying a sealed barrel that the byakugan cannot penetrate. 500 metres, targets appear to be resting."

"Everyone stop!" At Shikamaru's command, everyone dropped out of the trees to the forest below. "What is it, Shika?" Naruto's voice was terse.

Shikamaru merely pointed the ground about a foot in front of Kiba, where a thin ninja wire like substance was _just_ visible in the sunlight. Kiba winced. "Traps?"

"There's even more in the branches, it's a complete web up there."

Tenten looked at Neji. "Can't your eyes see them?"

Neji grimaced. "Probably if I was doing a 128 palms. Otherwise they're too thin. In the Hyuuga clan, probably only Hiashi-sama and the Elders have Byakugan that are strong enough to see this normally."

Shikamaru considered their options. From the complexity of the webbing, it was highly unlikely that he could get the whole team through without snagging at least one wire, which would render a sneak attack useless. On the contrary, barreling through would only lead them to an ambush. The only possible option was…

"Say Naruto. Exactly how many clones _can _you make?"

For the first time since the incident, Naruto grinned. Shikamaru suddenly felt a vague sense of doom; exactly how impossible was Naruto going to be _this _time?

…

The Sound Four were resting from the battle with the jounin and their release of the curse seals. In the middle of their circle was the barrel containing Sasuke; it was slightly smoking.

"Hey fatty! How much longer till the Uchiha is ready?"

Jirobou, the one who was addressed, looked at the speaker, and sighed. "Tayuya, a girl shouldn't talk that way."

Tayuya tossed her pink hair over her shoulder in irritation. "And what are you going to do about it, fatass?" Jirobou simply sighed, when the third member of their group suddenly sat up.

"What's up, Kidomaru," Jirobou asked, before noticing that Kidomaru was smirking.

"Ah, the Konoha trash is smarter than I thought…" He observed with an excited gleam in his eyes. "This is going to be an exciting game…"

Suddenly the clearing was disturbed as the fourth member of the team dropped down into the clearing. Sakon was quite obviously disturbed. "We've got to go, now! We're being surrounded!"

Tayuya smirked. "Why, you afraid of clones? Konoha doesn't have enough manpower to surround us, birdbrain!"

Kidomaru interrupted, looking quite excited. "They're all disturbing my web; they're all solid clones! I want to fight that one." He continued, "We can't even tell where the real ones are! This is going to be a good game."

Sakon sighed. "We're not here to fight trash, Kidomaru. Remember, Orochimaru-sama needs us as soon as possible!"

"I'm getting hungry, I could stay behind?" Jirobou suggested.

Suddenly, the once still head poking out of the neck of Sakon spoke. "Listen to my little brother here; we've got to go now!"

A feral shout interrupted them. "It's too late for that, Sound bastards!" From all sides of the clearing, an avalanche of Naruto descended, intent on burying the Sound four under a mountain of clones.

In an instant, Kidomaru had held his six hands above him, while Jirobou had lifted the barrel and Tayuya and Sakon had shifted into defensive positions beside Jirobou. **_"Spider Bind!"_**

A whitish web of spider webbing issued from Kidomaru's hands, repelling the incoming clones. Moments later all the clones disappeared in puffs of smoke, obscuring the area in chakra smoke.

A quiet voice rang out in the confusion. **_"Kagemane no Jutsu, Complete."_** Instantly, the sound four found themselves stuck in place, unable to move.

**_"Gatsuuga!" _**With a yell, Kiba and Akamaru launched themselves at the barrel in Jirobou's hands.

…

Meanwhile, in the opposite end of the battle, Naruto was hiding in the bushes. "Ghost Lady, do you really think this is a good idea?"

Mito nodded somberly. "You've been more emotional lately, haven't you?"

Naruto nodded, puzzled. "What does that have to do with this?"

"Your seal's adjusting to your body's changes, so it's going to a bit unstable for some time. That's why I told you to remove yourself from the direct line of sight, you know. If anything even grazes you, it gives the fox an opening to push its own chakra into your body, and we don't need to stress your body on top of everything else."

Seeing Naruto's mutinous face, she continued hastily. "Look Naruto-kun, the Nara told you to distract the enemy, you know, and in that position you don't need to be in the formation; in fact, it would be detrimental to do so."

Naruto nodded, deflated. "It still feels like hiding," he grumbled, absently creating another batch of clones to run interference.

"Think of it this way. If they run into trouble, they have a trump card even they don't know about!"

…

Kidomaru hastily used his **_Spider Sticky Gold_** ability to form tonfa, which he used to deflect a hail of kunai coming at him from the bun haired girl. It had only taken them pulsing the first stage of their curse seals to break free of the spiky haired boy's jutsu, after which the fight had turned into a free-for-all. Looking around, he saw Jirobou playing around with the Inuzuka and his dog, still carrying the barrel. Tayuya was simply using taijutsu, bobbing and weaving around the shadow user and the fat boy while Sakon was being attacked by the Hyuuga. Numerous copies of the blond boy were flitting around the battles, mostly providing distractions for the Konoha team.

None of them were any real threat; however they _were_ numerous and rather slippery, making them a pain to fight unless they went all out. Looking at the others, he saw that all of them had reached the same conclusion; even Tayuya, who would have normally opposed the decision, what with her inability to accept defeat: They couldn't activate their curse seals now, or they would be in no shape to deliver the Uchiha to Orochimaru. This left only one alternative.

Nodding to Tayuya, he ducked beneath a flying mace and dispelled a clone with a punch before firing off a jutsu. **_"Spider Sticking Spit!"_**

The tough ropy net catching Tenten by surprise, she hardly had time to do more than cross her arms in front of her before she was brutally pulled from her tree perch and into an off-guard Neji. At the same time Tayuya had caught both Shikamaru and Chouji by their wrists, proceeding to sling them both into the already unbalanced group in front of them.

"Hey Fatass, now!"

With a grunt of exertion, Jirobou caught the incoming **_Gatsuuga_** in his palms, before grounding them. While Kiba and the others were just shaking off their shock, he slammed his palms to the ground. **_"Doton: Doro Domu!"_**

With a crumbling sound, curved earth walls grew around the group, trapping the group in a giant dome of Stone and Earth. Jirobou grinned, throwing the barrel to Kidomaru with one hand, the other on the dome. Chakra glowed in the space between his hand and the earth dome. "You go on. I'm hungry, I'll just drain some chakra from this trash before joining up."

Kidomaru gave him a questioning look. "Are you sure? One rat escaped, after all."

Jirobou shrugged, uninterested. "If that Konoha trash is stupid enough to show his face, I'll kill him too. Or better yet, eat his chakra, he seems to have a lot."

…

Naruto watched, unsettled, as the Sound Four easily routed the Konoha Team's strategy with brute strength. But that was not the worst.

"Naruto, that dome is sucking chakra out of its prisoners."

Naruto racked his brains for a solution. On one hand, staying meant that he would let the Sound Four out of sight, which he was loath to do. On the other, he wasn't sure that the others had enough brute force to overpower the dome.

"Right. Ghost Lady, you track down the other Sound shinobi and leave a trail for me to follow; I'll take this glutton out."

Mito turned to him, surprised. "But Naruto-kun…" Naruto just gave her a look, before stepping out of his hiding place.

The first notice Jirobou had of his new opponent was a speeding golden chain rushing towards his hands. Upon his hasty retreat however, the chains abruptly changed direction and headed for the earth dome, shattering it like glass to reveal his bewildered teammates. Nobody even flinched when the clone that had been pretending to be him dispelled in a burst of smoke, being preoccupied with staring at Naruto.

"Oi, Shika! Take the others and go, I'll get back to you!" Naruto shouted, ignoring the gawping of the Konoha team.

Jirobou slowly flexed his arms, the first stage of the curse seal rippling across his skin. "You aren't going anywhere, Konoha trash."

Two more chakra chains rippled out of Naruto's arms in reply; without taking his eyes off of Jirobou, he spoke, "Shika, go now before the fight begins. I can handle myself."

With a yell, Jirobou lifted up a piece of the very earth's surface above his head, looking like a drawing of Atlas. **_"Doton: Doryo Dango!" _**He bit out through his exertion, levering himself to throw it at them.

With a slight nod towards Naruto, Shikamaru and the rest of the team fled the clearing just as Naruto's chains speared through the enormous boulder in a deafening crash.

…

Mito flitted across the treetops of the forests of the Hi no Kuni, following the three Sound ninja as they ran for the Ta no Kuni border. Travelling as close as she dared to the spider-like shinobi – she thought his name was Kidomaru – she was urgently trying to decipher the seals on the barrel. However her mind was not in it; she was pondering the enigma that was the curse seal.

Mito, in all of her Sealing Mastery and experience, had never seen such an effusion of chakra as that emitting from the small seal that was branded on all of the Sound Four, and in an entirely academic way, she was fascinated by it. A seal with a chakra source of its own was somewhat unbelievable; seals could not manufacture chakra, only store it! Not to mention that the seal stank to her acute senses of corrupted chakra, but she could see that it wasn't containing a demon, or even the chakra of one. If it was, the rate of chakra seepage through the seal would have meant that the potency of its flow would visibly reduce.

No. What she was looking at right now was something alien to her knowledge, something totally in the realm of the unknown; but the possibility for a seal to actually create chakra intrigued her, seducing her with its possibilities. After all, if she could adapt it to her own matrix, she would be free from the chakra leash tying her abilities to Naruto-kun's!

She was interrupted from her thoughts by the mutterings between the Sound shinobi.

"Oi, birdbrain!" Tayuya needled Sakon, who looked torn between amused and angry at the constant insults uttered by the only kunoichi in the group. "Why are we moving so slowly? Waiting for the fatass to catch up?"

"No. We're just conserving our energy for if we run across anymore patrols. We want to be able to fight our way out."

"We wouldn't need to bother if we crawl like this," Tayuya mumbled. "If you shitheads don't fucking pick your pace up, Orochimaru-sama will probably give us to Manda!"

Seeing Kidomaru snicker, she turned on him. "What are you laughing at, you spindly arsehole! I don't care if you want to be fucking snakebait, if you don't fucking move faster, I'm taking that bloody barrel and getting out of here!"

Mito, listening to the conversation, was getting increasingly worried. According to her senses, the Konoha team was at least 5 minutes away, and from what Tsunade had told her there was no patrols that were likely to meet this group. If they accelerated now, they would probably get away without any further interruption. She couldn't allow that; however she didn't want to use jutsu either, what with the chakra drain to Naruto in a potentially hostile situation. Her choices were taken out of her hands immediately afterwards.

Sakon was nodding. "Alright. We'll go 1st Level of the Curse seal until the border. Tayuya, Kidomaru, can you handle that?"

Kidomaru frowned. "I can, I guess. But I really wanted to play with that clone spawning Konoha-nin, that would have been a boss battle!"

Tayuya smirked, the markings of her curse seal already spreading through her body. "Of course I can handle that. Who did you think I was, birdbrain, you?"

Mito sighed, hoping she didn't do anything to seriously endanger Naruto. Snapping through a few deliberate hand seals, she intoned, **_"Genjutsu: Net of Tranquility!"_**

…

Shikamaru was troubled as he led the team, sans Naruto, across the forests in trail of the Sound shinobi and Sasuke. At their rear they could still make out the signs of Naruto fighting with that behemoth of a shinobi.

Naruto. Shikamaru had always thought him a bit of a mystery, with his inexplicable friendship with the Sandaime Hokage. However, during this mission it had seemingly come to a head. Naruto was proving more and more of an enigma the more the mission progressed, and it didn't make Shikamaru any less wary of the blond turned redhead.

Shikamaru had noticed when Naruto had substituted with one of the numerous **_Kage Bunshin_** that he had flooded the landscape with. The rather well executed substitution had not really irked him; it would have been folly to expose the original. Moreover, he had been more than slightly stunned by then. Being a technique derived from the Nara clan's **_Kuroii Bunshin_**, Shikamaru knew the limitations of the solid clone technique. For Naruto to use it to create possibly a thousand clones, without even looking winded, meant that he had Chakra reserves beyond belief. Shikamaru doubted that even the Sandaime Hokage, jutsu powerhouse that he was, could have spawned as many. But he knew that his erstwhile partner in skipping academy lectures had rather unbelievable reserves.

No, what had truly troubled the spiky haired chunin was the strange mood swings that Naruto had exhibited, and he had not forgotten the strangely coloured chakra that Naruto had emitted during his altercation with Sakura.

Suddenly, the surrounding was rocked by a giant explosion. A giant cloud of dust erupted from behind them, before an unearthly scream was heard.

Reflexively looking back along with the others, even Neji, he saw a sight that made his stomach turn. In the light of the noonday sun, glinting in the sunlight, three of the strange chain like chakra constructs that Naruto had employed earlier rose into the sky, weaving around each other. And speared at the top of it, with chains piercing through his head, heart and stomach, lay the undoubtedly dead body of Jirobou.

Shikamaru thought it may have been the sun, but for a moment, the chains had seemed more red than the gold they had been before.

**A.N. **Seeing as this chapter is mostly fight intensive, I have decided to add a jutsu list. Original Jutsu are marked with an asterisk.

**_*Genjutsu: Net of Tranquility – C-Rank - Traps the victims in a false sense of calm, used to calm down hysterical people. In this case, Mito uses it to hamper the Sound four's ability to tap into their curse seals as they cannot feel enough aggression._**

**_Doton: Doro Domu – B-Rank – Chakra absorbing, self repairing earthen dome._**

**_Doton: Doryo Dango – B-Rank – Lifts up the surface of the earth, turning it into a gigantic projectile._**

**_*Kuroii Bunshin – A-Rank – Hidden Jutsu of the Nara clan, it is a clone made of shadows._**

**_Spider Bind – Unranked – Hidden Jutsu, User spits out spider webbing that forms a wide web, snaring the victim._**

**_Spider Sticking Spit – Unranked – Hidden Jutsu, User spits out a sticky stream of spider webbing, which upon contact is used to reel the victim in._**

**_Spider Sticky Gold – Unranked – Converts the spider webbing the user extrudes into a steel-like substance with which the user can then fashion into a weapon of their choice._**

**_Gatsuuga – User and their Ninken spin rapidly, attacking in a drill like maneuver. _**


	6. The Carnival of Blood

**A.N. **This took a bit longer to write than I thought it would. Sadly, real life has seen fit to interact with me much more than it has in the previous months. This chapter is centered on the various battles taking place simultaneously in the northern forests of Konoha.

On another note, Kimimaro, I've found, is an extremely hard character to write. His blank personality and fanatical devotion are hard to capture together. So if my representation of the character annoys you, I apologize.

Ye be warned! Tayuya's uninhibited tongue makes yet another appearance in this chapter. Please note the 'M' rating of the story!

For the loyal reviewers (you know who you are); Thank you. The time you have taken to criticize my work is truly appreciated.

Please Review!

_Disclaimer: The Naruto series and its assorted characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto._

_Chapter 6 : The Carnival of Blood_

…

_When the hour is nigh  
And hopelessness is sinking in  
And the wolves all cry  
To fill the night with hollering  
When your eyes are red  
And emptiness is all you know  
With the darkness fed  
I will be your scarecrow_

**_Bleeding Out – Imagine Dragons_**

…

Drip. Drip. Drip.

A figure was lying prone on the ground in the middle of an enormous crater. It was a boy, wearing the tattered remnants of a jumpsuit, and he was covered in blood, none of which were his. The boy was also, to his complete surprise, not dead.

'Speaking of not dying, that was close.' Naruto thought as he finally recovered his equilibrium enough to open his eyes. 'What in the nine hells happened anyway?'

His shocked eyes observed the pillar of chakra chains protruding from his stomach rather clinically, as if it was simply an amusing artifact, until with yet another 'Drip', a drop of viscous liquid fell onto his face; when he absently wiped it away his hand stained a dark, unclean red.

Looking up, his gaze slid along the chains, which had curious crimson veins in them, to the top, where his stomach turned in disgust. The dead body of Jirobou was hanging there, held up by three of his spiked chains piercing his body: one through the head, one through the heart and the other through the stomach. The stomach was torn open and his eyes wide open in a terrified stare. Curiously blackish blood was pouring through the chains from various gaping wounds, dripping to the ground around him.

How _had _he gotten here?

…

_FLASHBACK_

…

**_"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"_**

"Stay still, Konoha trash!"

"Why, so you can punch me? No thanks!"

Three chakra chains curved around Jirobou's still figure, attacking spearing at him from opposite sides. Jirobou twisted around, avoiding the coordinated attacks of the chakra chains while trying to find the real Naruto, who kept out of his reach.

"Fine. You want to play it that way? **_Arhat Fist: Pressure Palm!"_**

With a resounding crash, Jirobou struck the ground with an open palm creating a minor earthquake that managed to dispel most of the clones. However, in the next second he had to vacate his position as Naruto's spiked chains veered into him.

Jirobou grimaced, running forward again to engage his ever elusive target. "I'm getting fed up with you, midget."

Naruto cracked a grin. "So what're you going to do about it?"

Reaching down, Jirobou clenched his hands on the ground. **_"Doton: Doryo Dango!"_**

Before Naruto could puncture the giant boulder like before, it was flying towards him. Hastily crossing his arms before him, Naruto intoned, **_"Spiked Chains: Barrier!"_**

The three chains rearranged themselves into a web patterned shield. When the rock smashed into the barrier though, it held for about a second before the sheer bulk of the projectile overwhelmed it. The giant boulder crashed into the place where Naruto had been, with a resounding crash.

Then a puff of chakra smoke erupted from the ruins of the boulder, and Naruto raced from behind Jirobou, holding a swirling ball of chakra. **_"Rasengan!"_**

Jirobou hastily turned towards him, flipping through hand seals. **_"Doton: Doroku Gaeshi!"_**

A slab of stone hinged up from the ground shielding Jirobou, only to be bored through by the Rasengan. However when he drilled through the earth slab, his torso came into contact with Jirobou's knee. **_"Arhat Fist: Rising Knee!"_**

The Naruto burst into smoke, revealing it to be yet another Kage Bunshin, just as another spiked chain whipped into Jirobou. Jirobou jumped back, increasing the distance between him and Naruto. Abandoning his attempts to get closer to Naruto and settling into a stance. **_"Curse Seal Level Two: Activate!"_**

Jirobou started to morph, his hair extended, his skin coloured, and warts started to appear on his face. Naruto looked on, intrigued. "Wow. You got even uglier than before!"

With a roar, Jirobou launched himself at Naruto. **_"Arhat Fist: Rock Attack!"_**

Naruto attempted to dance away from the attack like he had been doing during the whole fight, only to find that Jirobou's transformation had not been entirely cosmetic; he had become exponentially faster. With a sickening crack, Jirobou's fist buried itself into Naruto's chest. He could dimly hear his ribs break before he was flung backwards and into a tree. Struggling to breathe, he found himself vomiting blood, staining the torn remains of his jumpsuit.

"You're finished, little genin." Jirobou scoffed, turning away. "I'm Jirobou of the South Gate. Did you really think a genin like you could beat me?"

Naruto's vision stained red as Kyuubi chakra erupted around his body.

…

Jirobou had just finished his fight with the annoying clone spawning maverick genin. After all, no one could get back up from having their chest caved in; even if the boy's ribs had not gone into his heart and pierced his lungs, the force would have liquefied some of the organs in his torso.

'What a waste', he idly thought as he walked back out of the clearing slowly releasing his cursed seal. 'I could really have used his chakra.'

A red glow filled the area behind him, causing him to twist around in shock, only to have pain shoot across his body as crimson claws sliced across his torso. He looked up in disbelief, coming face to face with the creature that the genin that should have been dead had become.

Crimson, viscous chakra was coiling around the redhead in coils as he crouched on all fours, growling at Jirobou like an enraged beast. The whisker like markings had thickened considerably, and his crimson eyes were glaring at him suffused in killing intent. His three chakra chains were present behind him, swaying in a hypnotic rhythm; Jirobou noticed that the previously golden chains had crimson veins traversing their length, while the base of the chains seemed to have been set on fire.

Jirobou's wounds hissed as they attempted to heal due to the influence of the cursed seal, even as the possessed genin in front of him snarled at him, his whole body wrapped in an unnatural crimson glow. A moment passed, with the two transformed shinobi staring at each other across the clearing. Then, snarling at each other, they leapt at each other, intent to kill.

Leaning back to avoid an uppercut from Jirobou, Naruto slashed wildly at him with his claws, followed by his chains lunging at Jirobou as he attempted to evade the rushing claws. Jirobou managed to block the majority of the attacks with his increased speed, but the third spiked chain, coming at him from behind, tore into his side as he dodged.

Cursing fluently, Jirobou immediately backtracked. "Who the hell _are _you?" He asked disbelievingly, receiving only a roar in reply before the beast-like genin tore towards him.

…

'Note to self, don't get too close to a person with a curse seal,' Naruto thought, dazed, as he tried to get up from the punishing blow to his chest. It felt like he had been hit with a battering dam; he could distinctly feel that several of his ribs were outright broken, and he was having trouble breathing. Blood was filling his mouth and he was somewhat sure that his lungs were punctured, or worse. The pain was excruciating. Why had he gotten so close to Jirobou, and why hadn't he retreated when he had upgraded his cursed seal? Well, he could perhaps take solace in the fact that he wouldn't die from this, seeing as the fox wouldn't let him.

The fox. Naruto could remember the hazy outline of a conversation he had had just before they parted; a nagging voice in his head was telling him that it was somehow important. What had she said?

_"If anything even grazes you, it gives the fox an opening to push its own chakra into your body, and we don't need to stress your body on top of everything else."_

Oh. Shit. He could already feel an unnatural warmth spreading from his seal, chakra being released in an ever-increasing deluge that covered his body. His body, stressed out already from the Uzumaki moulding, would _not_ be in good enough shape to let him handle the power, even the paltry amount that he normally could. And he knew the seal was stressed; he had checked on it yesterday, and the cracks running along the length of the control rune at the centre had not been reassuring. He would have had to strengthen the seal in about three years' time, based on the speed of decay. But with _this_ latest complication, he would be lucky for it to last the mission.

The acid like chakra was racing along his chakra coils, scorching them and healing them at the same time as his body was glowing in the reddish glow of the chakra. He barely had time to look at the phenomenon however, since in the next moment the chakra had reached his head.

**"Rip… Tear… ****_Hate…Kill!"_**

His bones were popping, his body reassembling his mangled chest as he got into a crouch, snarling. But Naruto was not aware. No, Naruto was locked in his own mind, blinded by the extreme negative feelings that were running rampant throughout his mind courtesy of the Kyuubi. Disinterested in the current battle in favour of letting his mind survive the vicious assault, his mind retreated to itself, protecting itself from the rage of the Kyuubi that had never felt so terrible, so undiluted, so _pure. _So Naruto sat there, in the darkness haplessly fighting to protect himself from the unnatural emotions as outside a beast raged, raining primordial destruction on the creature that had been monumentally stupid enough to anger it.

…

Jirobou, for the first time since his fight with Kimimaro, feared for his life. He had tried bashing boulders on the beast, he had tried pummeling it to death, and he had even once succeeded in capturing it in another **_Doro Domu_**. However, it was proving to be useless in stopping it, and it was proving to be nothing if not relentless in its attempts. It would simply regenerate from whatever wounds Jirobou managed to inflict on it in a shorter time than Jirobou took to inflict them in the first place, and the wounds it placed on him in return proved to especially immune to the cursed seal's healing. Not to mention that the one time he tried to absorb the beast's chakra in his **_Doro Domu_**, the chakra had scorched his chakra pathways and almost caused him to drop out of his Cursed Seal mode, only getting another slash across his shoulder for the trouble.

Compounding his problems, the twinges of pain originating from his cursed seal were getting worse; he was running out of time.

He was rudely interrupted when a chakra chain snagged his tunic, throwing off his balance and making him stumble onto an equally surprised Naruto, who growled at him, even as Jirobou tried to leap away. The ever present chakra chains circled behind Jirobou, the large lethal spikes aimed at his head as Jirobou was in midair.

When Jirobou was milliseconds away from a gory death, however, Naruto seemingly went into shock. His crimson eyes dilated, the red slowly bleeding out as the chains disintegrated in midair. Naruto's body continued to spasm for a few seconds before going still.

Jirobou cautiously got up, staring at the boy. His cursed seal was troubling him, but he had been a worthy opponent, and he deserved to be dispatched as such. Concentrating what remained of the cursed seal's power to one hand, his body slowly leeched of the cursed seal's influence except his hand, which was now wreathed in malevolent looking purple chakra.

'Heh. I was hoping to use this on Kimimaro,' he thought wryly as he prepared for a final attack. **_"Arhat Fist: Palm of Finality!"_**

As Jirobou's chakra wreathed palm neared his face, Naruto's eyes snapped open, clouded blue eyes staring at the approaching hand in confusion even as his body instinctively rolled away from the attack. Jirobou stumbled at missing his mark, slamming his palm into the ground in an overwhelming explosion of shrapnel. Off balance, Jirobou fell in a heap onto a seemingly unconscious Naruto, who was bleeding over his eye himself from the shrapnel from Jirobou's latest attack.

"…is…Old Man…" Naruto murmured.

"What did you say, trash?" Jirobou demanded belligerently, struggling to end Naruto's life as he lifted one bulky hand towards Naruto's throat.

"I. Said. This is for the Old Man!" Three chains burst from Naruto's navel, shooting through Jirobou, killing him instantly as they punched through his body, carrying it into the air pinned onto the spiked edges.

Naruto let out a relieved sigh. "I… did it," he observed, before he succumbed to exhaustion.

…

_END FLASHBACK_

…

Groaning, Naruto pushed the corpse of Jirobou off his chains, letting it hit the ground in a spurt of blood as he struggled to get up, ignoring his protesting body. He had no time for this, not when the others were in danger! Struggling to his feet, he broke into a stumbling run onwards without a backwards glance at the bleeding corpse of his first real kill, disappearing into the forest following the discreet swirl markings left by Mito.

…

Mito had to say she enjoyed the frustrated looks on the Sound shinobi as they tried, and failed, to enter the initial cursed seal stage. Of course, seeing as it was a quite elementary technique, she supposed the illusion would shatter soon; after all, if one managed to even nudge the curse seal awake, the resulting chakra infusion would tear away the rest of the illusion.

"Those fucking Konoha bastards must have done something!" Tayuya muttered angrily as she continued to try to activate her curse seal while running.

Sakon shrugged, only the minute twitch of his eyes giving away his unease. "It doesn't matter. We don't need the seals to take care of trash."

Kidomaru grinned sharply. "This game is getting even more interesting!" He crowed madly. "I hope Jirobou left some for me; I could use a good fight!"

Sakon looked ready to reprimand Sakon, when the trees behind them rustled due to a pursuing shinobi. Taking alert stances, they were relieved to find it was only Jirobou. Up in the trees behind them, Mito sighed in relief; finally the Konoha team had caught up.

It happened in an instant; Jirobou suddenly wrenched the barrel from Kidomaru's hands and jumped back as a pair of spinning blurs smashed into a surprised Sakon launching them into the air and down a precipice.

With a roar of rage, Kidomaru leapt at Shikamaru, who had transformed back, only to be blocked by a genin in white clothes and distinctive pupil-less eyes: a Hyuuga. Kidomaru sneered savagely at Neji. "A Hyuuga. Are you that eager to die, trash?"

Neji, not deigning him with a reply simply settled into a Jyuuken stance, activating his Byakugan.

Meanwhile, Tenten was staring at the precipice down which Kiba, Akamaru and the strange two headed shinobi had fallen. Muttering an expletive, she turned to Shikamaru, who was warily eyeing the female member of the Sound Four. "I'm going after Kiba."

Shikamaru nodded tiredly, handing the barrel to Chouji. "This is so troublesome."

Tayuya smirked condescendingly at Shikamaru. "You're going to fight me, you scrawny rat?"

Shikamaru looked at her, eyes lidded. "You really like talking don't you, troublesome woman…"

Ignoring a steaming Tayuya, he turned to Chouji. "Chouji, get that barrel back to Konoha as soon as possible," he said seriously, wincing as Neji activated **_Kaiten_** to deflect some of Kidomaru's projectiles.

Turning back to Tayuya, he ran off, eager to put some distance between them and the other fight. She ran after him, forming hand seals and snarling at him. "Don't you dare run, you rat! I'm going to fucking crush you so bad, they'll have to scrape you off to bury! **_Kuchiyose no Jutsu!_**"

Multiple puffs of smoke issued from behind her, causing Shikamaru to scowl. "Of course I _had _to get the angry girl with the summons. Troublesome."

The smoke dissipated, revealing three enormous and grotesque figures behind Tayuya. Shikamaru, losing his composure, gaped. "What the hell is that?"

Tayuya gave him a predatory grin, her cursed seal markings spreading over her body in jagged lines. "**_Cursed Seal Level One: Activate! _**These are my Doki, shithead. So, ready to die?"

…

**** Chouji rushed back towards Konoha, stubbornly trying _not_ to think of what Shikamaru and the others were facing, and failing miserably in the attempt. It had not escaped him that the original team formation that Shikamaru had banked on for their triumph over the team of higher ranked nin had been destroyed in the chaos of the splintered groups that were now fighting for their lives in the forest. Kiba taking on the apparent leader may have surprised him for a moment, but it was hardly a surprise. The Inuzuka had been spoiling for a fight ever since his loss to Naruto, and his rapid progress had probably pushed the thorn deeper, leading Kiba to do something daring in order to show Naruto who was the 'alpha of the pack'. Shikamaru taking on genjutsu user as the strategist and long range attacker of the group was a no brainer, though Chouji still felt nervous when he thought of Shikamaru facing the foul mouthed redhead. And it was natural that as the team member possessing the best defense, Neji would engage the spider-like nin, who seemed capable of creating weapons at will.

But Naruto, who had fought…. No, _was fighting, _he wouldn't lose hope_…_ the plump team member? If Naruto had not interfered, it would have been his fight; that much he knew. His techniques were the best possible matchup for Jirobou, so why had Shikamaru not ordered them to switch? With a faint sense of horror, Chouji realized that Shikamaru had made a tactical decision to leave Naruto to fend for himself. Naruto's presence had led to tensions within the team, and Naruto _was _strong enough to pose a threat to any of the Sound Four. And though Shikamaru would have denied it to his dying breath, Shikamaru would have been relieved to not send Chouji into danger and possible death. Shikamaru had considered Naruto the most expendable of the team, which was a sobering thought.

Clenching his fists slightly, Chouji quickened his pace as he sprinted back to Konoha, conveniently backtracking to the first confrontation. After all, even with all the mystery surrounding Naruto lately, he was Chouji's friend. He only hoped it was not too late as he quickened his pace, clutching the barrel tightly.

Behind him, invisible, Mito flitted through the treetops, keeping a lookout for any signs of Naruto. She was pretty sure that her decision to use a genjutsu on the Sound nin had been warranted; after all she _still_ didn't fully understand the mechanics of the cursed seal. If it enhanced their physical abilities as she suspected, the Konoha team might have never caught up to them. Still, using loaned chakra without prompting, while the donor was in a combat state, was no joke. Not to mention that she had felt the slightest whisper of the Kyuubi's vile scent in the chakra transmitted to her. The transference seal she had on him would normally filter out perceived 'impurities' in the donor's chakra, but a caustic chakra lie the Kyuubi's could still cause it to burn out. Which meant that Naruto, and by association her seal, had been subject to a strong dose of Kyuubi chakra recently. That was not reassuring.

Still, the Akimichi boy, Chouji, was not moving in the direction of Konoha, which was to South-South East of their location, but South, retracing their steps. This meant that he was going to check up on Naruto, and possibly team up with him before they retreated to Konoha.

The bushes rustled slightly below, bringing her out of her reverie. Chouji seemed to have not heard it, but Mito saw one of his hands creeping towards his kunai chain. She smirked, that was nothing less than what she had expected from an Akimichi, who were notorious for their hunting abilities and forestry together with the Nara clan.

Suddenly a group of small projectiles impacted the ground in front of Chouji, who immediately somersaulted above the projectiles, landing on a nearby branch facing his attacker. Chouji took out his kunai chain, draping it over his body as his opponent emerged from the bushes.

It was a young man, looking to be in his late teens, with white hair dressed in a loose, long sleeved shirt and black pants. He had a purple inverted bow similar to the other members of the sound four, and his green eyes took in the Konoha shinobi carrying the barrel superiorly, as if he was above dealing with him. But there was one thing Mito noticed with increasing unease. The boy had two red circular clan markings on his forehead, denoting him a member of the Kaguya clan. Looking intently at the projectiles aimed at Chouji, she noticed that they were bones, specifically digits of fingers. So they were facing a Shikotsumyaku user, a bone manipulator of the cursed clan of Kaguya clan of Mizu no Kuni.

Mito could feel what little chakra she could manipulate in her body pulsing as she prepared to fight. Her body was getting ready to fight; she knew for certain that the young Akimichi of Naruto's class did not have a ghost of a chance against a Kaguya, especially one with a bloodline. The bloodthirsty nature of the clan was long documented; even her brother Shin, who was famous for his love of battle, had hesitated entering the Kaguya lands. That, combined with their bloodline had given the Kaguya clan a demonic reputation, with the civilian population of Mizu considering them advocates of the Shinigami. And now she was to fight one. The lack of fluctuations in Naruto's chakra meant that his particular fight was over, but that gave no specification on Naruto's condition. She did not even know if she could safely leech anymore chakra from him without endangering his life; however she could not allow Chouji to face this monster without backup, especially when handicapped by the large barrel. It looked like Chouji would be the first of Naruto's classmates to learn of her existence.

Meanwhile, the white haired Kaguya was talking to Chouji. His voice was a monotone, as if he was utterly uninterested in what he was saying. "Hand over Sasuke-sama, trash. I do not have time to kill you now."

Chouji tightened his grip on the barrel, and Mito saw the chakra flow in his arms become erratic; he was no doubt preparing for one of the Multi size techniques of his clan. "You can go to hell! Call off your guard dogs and exit the Land of Fire, or be killed for trespass!"

The Kaguya's face twitched. "Ah well. In that case, Konoha Genin, I am Kaguya Kimimaro, and I will be your executioner."

Bones grew out of his palms, elbows, shoulders and knees in sharp, lethal looking spikes. **_"Dance of the Willow!"_**

…

Kiba rolled to a stop at the base of the cliff he had taken a dive into, finally stopping his momentum to come to a stop near Akamaru, who had regained his feet before Kiba. Said dog was growling at something behind him, so with a groan he stood up, only to find the figure of the Sound shinobi he had tackled slowly getting up.

"Oh man, guess it was too much to ask for you to die in the fall?" Kiba asked rhetorically as the strange two headed man finally got up, glaring at him.

"You are going to pay for that, Konoha trash!" he spat out, before the head facing backwards spoke. "For once I agree, little brother. Trash like you should not attack their superiors, if you don't want to die."

Kiba scoffed. "I don't know what sort of freak you are, you bastard, but you are going down! **_Four Legs Technique: Beast Human Clone."_**

Akamaru turned into a clone of Kiba, who had gained animalistic characteristics of his own after the four legs technique. Priming themselves, the two jumped at the opposing shinobi, spinning like a pair of drills. **_"Gatsuuga!"_**

The **_Gatsuuga _**tore through the stationary Sakon, but as Kiba turned back, he found two people where one had been before, completely unharmed with a black pattern on their skin, covering opposite halves of their bodies. **_"Cursed Seal Level One: Activate!"_**

"What the hell?"

The pair simply smirked as they approached each other, before they, to Kiba's surprise, merged at the hip, leaving one person standing with two torsos.

The strange figure leapt above him, landing behind the spinning Kiba before extending his leg in a roundhouse kick. **_"Multiple Connected Feet!"_**

Solid feet materialized from the extended foot, repeatedly battering Kiba from behind, making him crash into the ground. Using his partner as a cover, Akamaru in his Beast Human clone state spun above the falling Kiba into Sakon's face. Sakon crossed his hands over his chest confidently as Ukon completely disappeared into him, intoning "**_Multiple Connected Fists". _**From his crossed hands, fists appeared, growing off each other as they battered the incoming Akamaru with repeated punches. Akamaru flew away from barrage of fists, his transformation dispelling as he hit the ground with a yelp.

Sakon scoffed. "Did trash like you really think you could take me, Sakon of the West Gate, on by yourself?" The head hanging from his neck chortled. "Aren't you forgetting someone, little brother? My name is Ukon, Konoha trash, and this is my brother Sakon. Remember the names, for they are the names of your killer!"

Kiba got up slowly, wiping a trail of blood from his mouth and smirking. "Didn't the Snake-bastard tell you not to monologue in the middle of a fight? Now, Akamaru! **_Dynamic Marking!_**"

The brothers settled into a defensive stance as Akamaru leapt up from behind Kiba, employing an elementary **_Tsuuga_**. However, instead of drilling towards them as Sakon expected, Akamaru instead made a wide overhead pass. A moment later, Sakon and Ukon were sprayed with a strong smelling liquid, dousing them.

"Ugh," Sakon grimaced, "did your dog just piss on me? Now I'm getting angry. I'm going to kill you!"

Kiba, who had used Sakon's momentary distraction to slip past them and beside Akamaru, spoke through a fit of giggles. "Oh I get it, you're pissed." Ukon growled at the pun, as Kiba sniggered, settling into a stance.

"Let's see you punch this! **_Human Beast Combination Transformation: Double Headed Wolf!_**"

An enormous cloud of chakra smoke erupted around Kiba and Akamaru.

"Brother…" Ukon spoke warily, looking at the chakra cloud. Sakon nodded, and they went rigid. **_"Cursed Seal Level Two: Activate!"_**

The smoke cleared, revealing a snarling, enormous twin-headed wolf standing where Kiba and Akamaru had been. Then one head snarled. **_"Garoga!"_**

Sakon looked at Ukon in alarm as the giant wolf bore down on him. Then, in unison, they went through a series of hand seals. **_"Summoning: Rashomon!"_**

With a cloud of chakra smoke, a sturdy gilded gate appeared between the transformed Inuzuka and their target. As they crouched behind the Rashomon gate, which was denting in the middle due to the force of the Garoga, they heard a strange hissing coming from around them. Looking around them in alarm, they saw six kunai surrounding them surrounding them in a hexagon, each primed with an exploding tag. Then a female voice called out from behind them.

"Couldn't let you boys have all the fun now, could I? **_"Six Pointed Star!"_**

The world exploded around Sakon.

…

"You are the most troublesome girl I've ever fought with…" Shikamaru noted with a moan as he jumped back to avoid an enormous fist of a doki which shattered the branch he was on.

Tayuya cackled, playing on her flute. "Really? What are you going to do about it, you fucking scrawny rat?"

Shikamaru didn't reply immediately, as he weaved between the doki to come between them and their mistress. "But in a puppeteer like you, the human is the weak link! **_Kagemane no Jutsu, Complete!_**"

A tendril of shadow attached itself to Tayuya's feet, coming from the opposite direction of the chunin in question. Tayuya could only stare in frustration as the Shikamaru in front of him dissolved into smoke; a simple bunshin.

Then suddenly, Tayuya was no longer there and he was holding off the sharpened edge of the flute with a kunai. Tayuya had a feral grin on her face. "Did you really think you could fool a genjutsu user with a bunshin, Konoha trash?" She taunted Shikamaru, using her superior physical strength to overpower him, the sharpened flute slowly digging into his neck. "If a fucking scrawny rat like you is the fucking chunin in your fucking group, it's no wonder the Uchiha left your pathetic village! Seeing as your village isn't fucking strong enough to keep the good ninja, maybe you could have simply let him go? Now your scrawny ass and all your fucking friends are going to die…"

Shikamaru suddenly pushed her flute away, ducking under it to swipe at her legs with a kunai before tumbling backwards to avoid retaliation. Tayuya leapt up to avoid him, settling down on branch nearby before starting to play her flute again.

Shikamaru hid in the undergrowth nearby, his hand dabbing at his neck which was slowly dripping blood from a shallow, jagged cut from the flute. He could hear Tayuya's doki stumbling around the clearing, clearly searching for him as the haunting melody of the flute reverberated throughout the forest.

"Where are you, you fucking bastard? You think you can hide from me? **_Revolt of the Demon World!_**"

Strange chakra constructs emerged from the mouths of the doki; translucent worm-like creatures with a multitude of gaping mouths. They were sniffing the surroundings to the tune of the flute, bobbing and weaving as they tried to smell out their prey.

"Give it up, Konoha trash," Tayuya's gloating voice came from the clearing, "these spirits are made from spiritual energy. As long as your scrawny ass has any physical energy left, they're going to lead me right to you!"

…

Something strange was going on here, Chouji thought as he continued to dodge the spinning bone wielder with surprising ease. He had thought it would have been tougher than this, what with the guy's appearance. But the man seemed to always a hair too slow or too fast to hit him, and Chouji, as confident as he was about his own skills, knew that he would have been no match for his opponent if not for his seemingly random lapses in judgment. Not to mention that he was fighting while having to protect the barrel, whereas Kimimaro had no such restriction. However, he had seen flashes of what looked liked stylized dragons around the bone wielder before he missed Chouji in a strike.

Kimimaro seemed to be more upset than anyone else in the vicinity. He kept muttering about genjutsu, though Chouji could not see how that could be possible. After all, he was the only one fighting Kimimaro at all, and surely if there was a Konoha shinobi in the area they would help?

However, Chouji was not one to ponder in the middle of battle; that was more Shika's style. Instead, he pulled out his kunai chain. **_"Multi Size Technique: Spiked Human Bullet Tank!"_**

Kimimaro turned instinctively towards the threat, but was too late to stop the giant mass of kunai and flesh from rolling over him. Instead he tucked and rolled into a ball, before three feet long spikes grew out of the vertebrae in his back.

There was no time to change course. Chouji would run into the man who rather resembled a porcupine at the moment, and he would run himself into the spikes. Then, suddenly, a ghostly woman in an aristocratic clan attire appeared before him, looking alarmed, even as a crimson veined spiked chakra chain wound around him, redirecting his momentum into a nearby tree.

A rough, feral voice called out from the treetops. "You all right, Chouji, Ghost Lady? What the hell's going on here?"

**A.N. **

**_Kage Bunshin – B-Rank – Produces corporeal clones made of solidified chakra. Brittle in combat, but can use jutsu of their own._**

**_Arhat Fist: Pressure Palm – Taijutsu attack of Jirobou. User makes a downward lunge with an open palm. Can inflict major damage by direct contact._**

**_*Spiked Chains: Barrier – User rearranges chakra chains in a spider web pattern to defend from large projectiles, unique to Uzumaki with 'Spiked Chains' expression._**

**_Rasengan – A-Rank – The pinnacle of Shape Manipulation, it uses neutral chakra tendrils curled around itself in a circular drilling motion._**

**_*Arhat Fist: Palm of Finality – A modified technique of Jirobou, it redirects all the power of the cursed seal into one area, namely the fist, in order to throw a truly devastating punch._**

**_Kaiten – Pure chakra based barrier that deflects any and all attacks aimed at it. Regarded as the 'Ultimate defense' of the Hyuuga._**

**_Kuchiyose no Jutsu – C-Rank – Space-Time Ninjutsu that summons a creature, structure or object from another plane in order to help the user. _**

**_Dance of the Willow – Kaguya jutsu in which long spike-like bone blades protrude from the user's body, giving them several weapons in order to work with. Supplementary technique to Taijustu._**

**_Four Legs Technique – D-Rank – Inuzuka supplementary technique in which the user gains animal reflexes and instincts, along with increased strength, speed and stamina._**

**_Beast Human Clone – Inuzuka jutsu in which the canine partner transforms into a copy of its shinobi._**

**_Multiple Connected Feet – Ukon's feet sprout from Sakon's mid attack._**

**_Multiple Connected Fists – Ukon's fists emerge from Sakon's._**

**_Dynamic Marking – Inuzuka jutsu in which the canine partner urinates on a target, allowing subsequent tracking by smell._**

**_Human Beast Combination Transformation: Double Headed Wolf – B-Rank – Inuzuka jutsu in which the user and their partner combine into one entity with two heads. Increases attack strength._**

**_Garoga – B-Rank – Inuzuka jutsu similar to the Gatsuuga, but performed in concert with the Human Beast Transformation._**

**_Rashomon – A menacing gate summon that forms a formidable one directional defense._**

**_*Six Pointed Star – User throws six kunai with exploding tags attached in a uniform hexagon around the target. The exploding tags then explode simultaneously, destroying the target, or throwing it into the air where it is vulnerable._**

**_Kage Mane – Nara jutsu that allows the user to extend their shadow and attach it to another's , forcing them to imitate the user's movements._**

**_Revolt of the Demon World – B-Rank – A technique with unbalanced chakra, the worm-like protrusions seek out sources of physical energy with which they can regain balance._**

**_Multi Size Technique – Akimichi jutsu in which the user increases their body mass, in order to facilitate their other techniques._**

**_Spiked Human Bullet Tank – C-Rank – Akimichi jutsu in which the user spins rapidly with spiked protrusions emerging from his body which would tear out any resistance._**


	7. The Molting of the Mayfly

**A.N. **Much darkness, young Sasuke has. Much surprise, there will be!

Ahem. As you may have noticed, I was up all night watching a Star wars movie marathon. So, now that I've got Yoda out of the way, here's the seventh episode of Tales of the Arcane. The continuation of the earlier battles, and Sasuke enters the fray. Mito's reluctance to go on the trip is explained.

Thank you, all loyal readers, followers, and all who reviewed my story. Over 100 reviews! Thank you.

Please review!

_Disclaimer: Naruto, and all its characters, belong to Kishimoto. Curse him, slaveowner!_

_Chapter 7 : The Molting of the Mayfly_

…

_My work is done now look at him  
He's never been more alive.  
His head it shakes his fingers clutch.  
Watch his body writhe  
I'm the Gypsy - the acid queen.  
Pay before we start.  
I'm the Gypsy - I'm guaranteed.  
To break your little heart._

**_The Acid Queen – The Who_**

…

Kiba had just made some headway with the giant summoned gate, when an enormous explosion ripped the gate apart. Blown back by the force and dazed, he was thankful that the gate was un-summoned following its destruction, or the debris might have torn him apart. He heard a whine, and looked down to see Akamaru, having reverted back to his normal form from the blast, lapping at a narrow trail of blood running down his flank courtesy of one of Ukon's earlier punches.

Then he heard a sniggering female voice in front of him, which he was unable to identify due to the ringing in his ears and the acrid smoke in his nose. Akamaru whimpered again; it seemed he too had been affected by the noise of the explosion and the destruction of the gate.

"Kiba-san? Uh… Sorry about that, I guess? It's just… I saw the perfect opportunity…"

Ah. Now he remembered where he had heard that particular voice. It was that bun haired girl who had lost to that sand chick in the Chunin exam… Now he just had to figure out why she was here.

"…Kiba-san? I said I'm sorry, now stop napping and come with me to help the others!"

Right. He was with the others, and they were on a mission to… retrieve Sasuke? Why would he go after the teme? Instinctively clutching at his forehead, Kiba stumbled to an upright position, gently depositing Akamaru inside the shredded remains of what had once been his favourite hoodie. It was after this that his eyes focused on the impatient kunoichi in front of him.

"Uh… Tenten-san, isn't it? You were on the same team as that bastard Neji… What're you doing here?"

The kunoichi frowned, before leaning into his face and peering at him. "Huh? Are you in shock, or something? Maybe this will help…" With that, she gave him a prompt cuff on the back of the head, spinning him around and into the nearby stream.

Kiba came to, sputtering, as he pulled his face out of the stream. "Why would you _do _that?" He asked indignantly, as the girl giggled hysterically.

"You were in shock," she replied unrepentantly, "Now come on; Neji has probably gotten in over his head already."

Kiba stuttered. "B-But…"

"Oh, that? The guy we were fighting is probably in a thousand pieces. I thought the stupid idiot would jump… I didn't even get a proper fight."

Kiba looked at where she was pointing, and barely managed not to vomit. What remained in the crater could not be identified as human, or even something that was once alive. Burnt, shredded and crushed, it smoked in the crater emanating the most disgusting stench of burnt flesh.

"Yeah…" Kiba said weakly, turning away from the corpse, "That guy's dead. Let's go."

As they sprinted away to find a way back up the cliff, neither saw the grim face of Ukon, peeking out from the back of Kiba's head.

…

Neji skipped away from yet another golden projectile, almost lazily reaching out with a Juuken strike to sever the spider thread attached to it as he landed in a crouch. At the other end of the clearing, Kidomaru grinned.

"You're getting really interesting, trash," he said, grinning as his **_Spider Sticky Gold _**to form a set of boomerang like weapons for each of his six hands. "Care to try closer?"

Neji charged forward, as Kidomaru continued to send volley after volley of webbing at him. Each time the webbing close to snaring him, he would strike it with a precise Juuken strike dissolving the thread. Batting away his webbing at every turn, Neji slowly advanced even as Kidomaru retreated into the forest, spewing webbing from his hands.

"Give it up, Sound shinobi," Neji advised Kidomaru as he disentangled himself from yet another web. The two were within striking distance now. "You're within the range of my divination. **_Two Palms!"_**

Neji crossed the distance between them in an instance, driving two Juuken strikes into Kidomaru's shoulders. Even as Kidomaru jerked back at the impact, Neji was continuing with the attack.

**_"Four Palms! Eight Palms! Sixteen Palms! Thirty Two Palms!"_**

Neji stepped into Kidomaru's face as he was flailing from the attack. **_"Eight Trigrams: Sixty Four Palms!"_**

Kidomaru was launched away from the branch they were on by the force of the last attack, but suddenly flipped away to land in a crouch on a low-hanging branch. He was grinning.

Neji frowned. "Your willpower is commendable, sound shinobi, but you can't use chakra now. Give up, and your life will be spared."

Kidomaru mouth twisted into a mocking grin, even as Neji noticed a gold substance flake off from Kidomaru's body. "Guess your Byakugan isn't as all seeing as you would like it to be, is it, Hyuuga?" He mocked, before gesturing to the flakes falling off him. "This is my **_Armour of Sticky Gold_**. It'll take more than you to put a scratch in my armour!"

Neji stared at Kidomaru blankly. "You do realize that you gave me a solid reason to use lethal force, don't you?"

Kidomaru gave him a challenging grin. "Go on, be my guest. I like it when prey struggle!"

Neji sighed, jumping down to re-engage his opponent. "I swear, fate has a strange sense of humour. Why can't I get a normal opponent for once?"

…

Chouji, now out of his multi-size technique and sporting a rather generous gash on his shoulder, looked nervously between the three shinobi that were staring at each other across the centre of the clearing where the barrel containing Sasuke stood. The Sound shinobi, Kimimaro, stood at one end, sharp bone spikes sticking out of his arms, legs, shoulders and spine, with a strange black pattern spreading through his body originating from the strange three line seal below his throat. His green eyes were flashing with irritation.

At the other end was Naruto, only he looked a lot different, even when compared to the red haired version that had come to the mission. His orange jumpsuit was in tatters, the top barely hanging on to the frame. His canines looked large, his unique whisker markings wider, giving him a feral look. His eyes looked bloody, the sclera bloodshot and curious crimson veins traversing the irises. Blackish half-clotted blood matted his hair in clumps, running down his clothes and the remains of his clothes. A blue-black bruise was clearly visible on his exposed chest, and three golden chains with strange crimson veins within them were protruding from his lower back.

Between them, nearest to the barrel, stood the woman that Naruto had called 'Ghost Lady'. Chouji could certainly see the reasoning. The woman looked like a coloured glass figurine, the destroyed forest around them visible through her translucent body. Her hair, which seemed to be of a reddish shade, was pinned to her sides in two buns, somewhat reminiscent of Tenten's, only held up with multiple senbon. She was wearing a white kimono, and she had a pair of seal tags in place of earrings. Also, now that the fight had been halted for a moment, she looked completely calm, in contrast to Naruto and Kimimaro who were flooding the surroundings with killing intent.

For a moment, the three stared at each other. Then Kimimaro scoffed. "You Konoha shinobi are all very eager to die; more's the pity that I don't have the time. And you, woman. You were the one who kept trying to put me in a genjutsu, weren't you?"

Mito snarled, at odds with her expressionless face. "I'm Mito of the Uzumaki clan, _Kaguya._" She spat at the sound shinobi, ignoring Chouji's gasp. "You don't need to tell us about your killing tendencies, we Uzumaki have faced it often enough. I would have thought that your clan would have done this world a favour and gone extinct by now, but of course that's too much to ask from your kind, isn't it, _barbarian?"_

Kimimaro stared at her blankly. "I have no idea what you're talking about, woman. Now hand me over the barrel containing Sasuke-sama, so I can be on my way."

Naruto took a stumbling step forward, gritting his teeth. "Now see here, Sound trash. If you think we'll just allow a shinobi to defect to your bastard master," Kimimaro growled, "you're very much mistaken. Die!"

With a scream, Naruto swung his arm wildly, his chains arcing behind him in unison to crash into the place where Kimimaro was, even as Mito vanished into thin air again with a whisper of wrapping oriental dragons.

Suddenly, through the dust cloud caused by the chains colliding with the ground, a bone spear broke through. It was followed by Kimimaro, who had what looked like his own ribs jutting out of his body in a protective cocoon.

"You are an interesting opponent. May I know your name, Konoha nin?"

Naruto paused in his charge, before a bloodthirsty grin crossed his face. "Uzumaki Naruto. And yours?"

"Kaguya Kimimaro. Now prepare to die for opposing Orochimaru-sama. **_Dance of the Larch!"_**

"Your master's ambition is as useless as his hands have become. Prepare to die, Kaguya, for treading on lands protected by the Sandaime's sacrifice! **_Kage Bunshin!_**"

With a series of pops close to a hundred clones of Naruto appeared; however all but the original lacked the chains waving behind him. Then the clones paired up, cupping their hands over the other for a moment before the forest was lit up with the blue glow of pure chakra even as Kimimaro attacked the nearest clones in a pirouetting maneuver, cutting a swath of destruction through the multitude of clones. **_"Rasengan!"_**

Kimimaro disappeared under the assault of the remaining clones, his bone spears cracking under the assault of the rasengan, before Kimimaro's chakra pulsed with a yell.

**_"Cursed Seal Level Two: Activate!"_**

With a spin, all the clones surrounding Kimimaro were shaken off, revealing Kimimaro with a darkened skin, and a dinosaur-like tail. Then with the slightest shimmer of a serpentine silhouette, Mito attacked from behind him as Naruto's chains disappeared, only for Kimimaro to somersault over the approaching dragon into a group of rasengan wielding clones, which were abruptly dispelled by the bone spears as he spun in place, the needle sharp bones digging into the clones and obscuring him in a cloud of chakra smoke. Synchronizing with a clone for a moment, Naruto created a rasengan in his left hand as he materialized one chakra chain through his right arm, giving him a knife edge and several chakra edges throughout his arm. With a yell, he dived into the smoke after Kimimaro, who parried it with the bone emerging from above his palm, his other hand gripping Naruto's above the wrist, stopping the rasengan from approaching him.

With an ominous crack, the bone started to give way as both Naruto and Kimimaro tried to overpower each other. "Heh… Looks like your bones can break after all, what do you know?"

Jumping back at the exact moment that the bone dagger broke, Kimimaro reached for his shoulder as Naruto's rasengan wielding hand hit the ground with a deafening crunch. Kimimaro slowly pulled out a bone sword from his upper arm, molding it into a short bone sword before settling into a sword stance. **_"Dance of the Camellia!"_**

Within a moment, he was within Naruto's guard, rattling him with repeated puncture wounds before one of his flailing chakra chains caught Kimimaro across the stomach, tossing him away. Naruto fell onto his knees, red chakra bubbling around his wounds for a moment as they hissed and steamed. Then, struggling to his feet, he walked towards Kimimaro, who had also gotten onto his feet, ignoring the blood as it flowed from the gash Naruto's chain had inflicted. Mito stood immobile in the clearing above Chouji who seemed paralyzed by the raw killing intent filling the area, ready to interfere should it be necessary; but she was wary of chakra use so soon after Naruto had suffered an injury, particularly in the wake of clear use of the Kyuubi chakra, showing it to be just below the surface. Besides, in this position, she could easily take stop any interference should Chouji try to interfere, which would simply get both him and Naruto killed. This was way above the abilities of Chouji.

Meanwhile, Kimimaro gave Naruto an assessing glance. "I thank you Uzumaki-san, this has been a most invigorating battle. However, Orochimaru-sama's business is urgent, and my life is dedicated to his duty. I will kill you now."

Giving Naruto a fanged grin, to which Naruto responded by sprouting three other chains in addition to the one through his arm, Kimimaro reached behind his shoulders.

**_"Dance of the Clematis: Vine!"_**

…

Shikamaru barely had the time to move before one of the strange worm-like creatures ghosted into his hiding place. Still, as he jumped away the technique had grazed his arm. Immediately, a bone-aching exhaustion swept through him, as he stumbled on the landing and rolled onto the ground.

Mocking laughter met his ears as he struggled to get up. "There you are, shithead. For a moment I thought you had scurried away, like the rat you are."

Shikamaru grimaced. "That would be too troublesome to explain, troublesome woman," he grumbled, "make no mistake, I'm not here because I _want _to fight you."

Shikamaru's hands twitched, unobtrusively forming a seal. However, as soon as his shadow started to extend, one of Tayuya's doki charged at him, forcing him to leap back.

"One trick pony," Tayuya scoffed, "did you really think I wouldn't notice you forming seals?"

Then another of the physical energy leeches lunged at him, but this time, instead of Shikamaru jumping away, he simply stood in position, letting the strange leech pierce his body. Then, around the leech, his body began to blacken and bubble. Then a voice came from behind Tayuya. **_"Kagemane no Jutsu: Complete!"_**

Suddenly, Tayuya couldn't move, immobilized by the Nara clan jutsu. Then, without her volition, her body started to move, until she was brought before an utterly relaxed Shikamaru leaning lazily on a nearby tree, looking at her with a smirk. "You know, you were correct when you said I couldn't fool a genjutsu user with a bunshin, and you were correct. However, a Nara _can _fool you with a **_Kiroii Bunshin._** Look."

Her head unwittingly moved to look at the place where the now still doki had pierced the bunshin, which now contained just her doki and its spirit leech, both covered in a strange black cloak.

"Shadows," Shikamaru explained somewhat unnecessarily, "They are solid enough to not be considered an illusion, yet they cannot contain any physical energy. So when your strange jutsu pinpointed my location, I just waited for it to commit to an attack it couldn't abort, and then substituted with a Kiroii Bunshin I had placed there previously. When your attack tried to absorb nonexistent physical energy, well…"

As they were watching, the captured doki began to creak, the black shadows seeping into its structure, creating crevices and cracks as it seemed to melt into it. Then, with a keening wail, the doki and its worm-like protrusion began to disintegrate.

Watching Tayuya's face twist in fury, Shikamaru smirked. "As you can see, Nara clan jutsu use shadows, which do _not _play well with other types of energy. Sorry about that." He drawled, seemingly enjoying Tayuya's anger.

Just then, Shikamaru ducked to dodge a wild swing by one of the other doki, forcing Tayuya to do the same. This time though, Tayuya was the one grinning when they were upright again. "So, shithead, what's your fucking idea to stop that? I'm the only one who can stop them, but as it is, you've fucking tied me up…"

Slowly Shikamaru brought his hands to his mouth, forcing Tayuya to do the same with her flute. "I saw you playing, and I can guess the melody."

With that, Shikamaru began to mime the notes he wanted to play, but unlike before, Tayuya was actively opposing him, making the melody choppy and unclear as Tayuya fought Shikamaru for control. Beads of sweat were rolling off Shikamaru's face due to the exertion, but he held on doggedly, refusing to release Tayuya from his technique. 'Damn it! If this goes on, I'll have to use that technique to finish the battle, and on top of it, I'm running out of chakra! Troublesome…'

The doki continued to stumble around, swinging wildly and showering both combatants with woodchips. Struggling, Tayuya spoke. "You've got a good head on your shoulders, shithead. But you're simply too weak for this level. **_Curse Seal Level Two: Activate!"_**

Shikamaru barely managed to sever his connection to Tayuya and leap back as ominous chakra blanketed the area, originating from Tayuya. Her body was bubbling, changing considerably; with her hair becoming longer and lighter, her skin darker, along with a protrusion of horns emerging from her head.

Jumping back, Shikamaru latched his shadows to those of the two remaining doki, hoping to use them to against Tayuya while he figured out his next move. Tayuya just stared at him blankly. "Seriously? Do you think I'm a fucking idiot like you? **_Release!_**"

With a puff of chakra smoke, both remaining doki were unsummoned, leaving Shikamaru and Tayuya facing each other on the opposite sides of the clearing, Shikamaru staring at Tayuya, expressionless, while Tayuya gave him a bloodthirsty leer. "Well, well. It's just you and me now, shithead. Now how should I kill you?"

…

Kiba and Tenten were sprinting, stumbling in Kiba's case, across the riverbank while looking for a place to climb the cliff separating them from their comrades. Normally they would have simply tree-walked their way up the cliff, but Kiba was adamant that they not attempt it with his and Akamaru's condition.

The mood between the two was tense. Kiba was still cross at Tenten for using exploding tags without warning him, while Tenten maintained that warning him would have made the whole attack useless, and that Kiba was just jealous that he had not had the kill.

Of course, when she made the mistake of saying her opinion out loud, it started Kiba off on a tirade.

"Jealous? Because of your stupid explosion fetish, Akamaru got hurt, and I almost died! Why did you butt in anyway, I had the fight under control!"

"Yeah right, the great Kiba was pulverizing the poor Sound fools." Tenten said sarcastically. "Face it, Dog-boy; you were being lead around by your over sensitive nose."

Kiba growled at the insult. "What the hell's your problem anyway? You could have gone and bugged someone else, like that Neji-bastard! I don't need a bloody _kunoichi_ to babysit me!"

Tenten's eyes narrowed as she abruptly turned towards him. "You better rephrase that, Dog-boy." She said between gritted teeth, as one of her eyebrows twitched in irritation, "Or do you have anything against kunoichi?"

Startled at her vehemence, Kiba stammered incoherently. Tenten snorted, turning away. "Thought so, you chauvinist pig."

Suddenly, her instincts, honed by Gai-sensei's habit of randomly attacking his team, flared. Acting subconsciously, she twirled, unsealing a large wooden shield to cover her. With a 'shlink' of wood against metal, a kunai stabbed itself to the hilt and through the hardened wood of the shield, missing her side by inches and leaving a gouge in the ground behind her. Tracing its trajectory, Tenten saw that it had been thrown by Kiba, and judging by her previous position, it had been aimed for her kidneys. With the force in the throw and the angle, it would have caught her side, and lacerated both of her kidneys before exiting her body, causing an excruciating, and slow, death. It was one of the most advanced, and disturbing, places to target during a fight, and it could not be easily done; Konoha Academy trained students to go for the easier, more obvious choices like the heart or throat.

Unbelievingly staring at Kiba, who seemed to have gone into shock, she settled into a defensive stance. "Did you just try to kill me?"

The thought itself was ludicrous. Konoha shinobi were taught teamwork and loyalty from their very cradles, and betrayal and desertion was considered to be so abhorrent that even thinking about it was considered taboo, and the punishment for trying to kill a teammate was so horrific that deserting Konoha and having the hunter-nins after you was considered to be better. In fact, the stakes were so high that only socially isolated shinobi with turbulent pasts had ever deserted Konoha, which meant that of the twelve rookie genin that had participated in the last chunin exams, only Sasuke, Naruto and Neji had ever fallen into the 'risk' category. Kiba, who came from the renowned Inuzuka clan, had no possible reason to defect, and though they generally had hot tempers according to Gai-sensei, Kiba couldn't have expected to get away with it! Unless, of course, he wanted to kill her and make it look like the sound shinobi had killed her. But surely he wouldn't try to kill her just because of an argument? At least she hoped so…

Trepidation growing, she cautiously brought out a pair of nunchucks as she approached Kiba. Then suddenly Kiba seemingly sprinted at her, while simultaneously trying to hold himself back, resulting in him tripping over himself and falling on his face. As Akamaru yelped and leapt clear of Kiba's falling body, Tenten crept forward cautiously towards the figure on the ground, which was writhing in apparent agony. By now she knew there was something very wrong with Kiba.

"Kiba-san?"

Then suddenly Kiba was looking at her with mismatched eyes, with the right side of his hair turning white and growing longer, and the skin slowly colouring brown. Struggling to speak, Kiba whispered, "Run. I can't… control… body…"

Akamaru whimpered, seemingly afraid to approach his partner. Tenten took a cautious step back, trying to understand what was happening.

Then, Kiba's face fell slack as he lunged at Tenten with a kunai.

…

Looking into the forests of the north from her seat in the Hokage Tower, Tsunade felt a shiver of premonition. Below her, the village was a beehive of activity, and her ANBU had reported that the story of the Uchiha's desertion was the hottest news in the gossip circles.

She knew where the information had leaked from; the kunoichi in the newest generation seemed unable to grasp the meaning of discretion. Tsunade had half a mind to place the lot of them in punishment detail for this particular blunder, but she supposed the results of their actions would be punishment enough. If Sasuke had been retrieved without the story spreading far and wide, there had been a chance that the Uchiha would have been able to get away scot free. However, seeing as the whole of Konoha knew by now that the 'last loyal Uchiha' had deserted the village for their most hated enemy of the moment, Sasuke would face forced genetic donation followed by forced seppuku, at best. A mirthless smile graced Tsunade's lips at the thought; in a way, his fangirls had signed the Uchiha's death warrant.

But she had no time, nor inclination, to worry about the non-existent future of an Uchiha. She was instead worrying over her favourite genin, one Uzumaki Naruto, who had gone on the mission to retrieve the said Uchiha.

The conversation she had had with her grandmother prior to their leaving for the mission still echoed in her mind, filling her with anxiety.

…

_FLASHBACK_

…

"You know, this is a dangerous game you are playing, Tsu-Tsu."

Tsunade, who had been trying to burrow her head into the wooden desk, jerked up at the sound. Looking up from the cozy nest she had made with her arms, she resisted the urge to groan when all of her ANBU detail were out cold on the floor, again.

"My games aside, that is really not good for them, grandmother," Tsunade stated drily, looking at her snoring 'guards' with an expression halfway between exasperation and amusement. Though she supposed it was a welcome change after all the headaches that that blasted Uchiha had caused her, it was too early to deal with anything other than a hangover cure, damn it!

"If they get caught in a genjutsu that only traps an unsuspecting mind while they are on guard detail, they deserve any neck cramps they get, you know." Mito's response was just as dry as her grand-daughters. "Plus I don't see you doing much better, you know. You didn't even notice me enter and I knocked out all your guards without you even noticing." Sniffing a bit, her lips narrowed. "And you've been drinking again, haven't you?"

Tsunade groaned, dropping her head back into her arms. "Give me a break, grandmother! I've got a killer headache, the council's breathing down my neck, those two old fossils won't stop pestering me, and that spoiled brat of an Uchiha had to chose now of all times to run off to snake face! Do you know how much meetings this is going to cause? And paperwork! I swear I'll kill that brat myself…"

"Get in line," Mito scoffed, sounding uncharacteristically bitter. "If Naruto-kun doesn't stain his hands with the traitor's blood, I might kill the bastard myself, and I will make him _suffer._"

Tsunade looked at her, shocked. "Grandmother? You don't even know that little self-obsessed headcase!"

Mito snorted. "I saw him once; I don't believe I ever want to repeat that experience. That boy is a collection of his clan's worst attributes, you know." She sighed. "Though I have to say, Tsu-Tsu, your summons came at the worst possible, not to mention downright dangerous moment in our training."

"Oh?" Tsunade asked, quirking an eyebrow. "Why is that, he should be able to function with his old skills during any battles, and I need the safety net that Naruto and you will provide for the mission." She asked, before continuing to grumble. "It's not like I have any Jounin or chunin to spare, what with the bloody border patrols, and that gnome of a Tsuchikage probing our lines…"

Mito snorted. "Focus, Tsu-Tsu. Now as for your earlier question, the reason is that Naruto's body is still adapting to its changes, not to mention the changes to the seal."

"What changes to the seal?" Tsunade interjected, alarmed.

Mito groaned. "Come on, Tsu-Tsu. I've told you about the effects of the Uzumaki bloodlines, especially of the **_Spiked Chains_**. And you should know anyway, you were friends with a user!"

"What do you mean, grandmother? Kushina only told me she could suppress chakra with it!"

Mito smirked triumphantly. "But did she ever tell you why?"

Tsunade looked at her, puzzled. "What do you mean?"

"Normal **_Spiked Chains_** don't suppress chakra; it was unique to Kushina, and for a simple reason. That particular expression has a rather strange ability… Seal transference."

Tsunade looked at her warily. "And what does that do?"

Mito sighed. "It channels the abilities of any seal that is linked to the user's very self. Since Kushina's jinchuuriki seal, which I designed, was in itself a chakra suppression seal, her chains gained the ability to suppress chakra themselves. Seeing as Naruto has not yet gained full control over his powers, and the fact that the isolation seal I put on top of his jinchuuriki seal wouldn't have a ghost of a chance if he got angry, do you see the problem?"

Tsunade looked at her, troubled. "You think that the chains could become a conduit for the Kyuubi to come out?"

Mito ran her hand over her face tiredly. "If only that. No, Tsu-Tsu, if Naruto is pushed hard enough at this time, he would channel the essence of the _seal._ And with what Kushina's husband used to bind the seal…"

Tsunade reared back in horror. "You don't mean… _The Shinigami!_"

…

_END FLASHBACK_

…

Tsunade was pulled out of her reverie by the sound of hurried footsteps, before a messenger burst into her office, panting.

"Apologies, Tsunade-sama. Urgent message from the lookouts in the North Gate!"

Tsunade could already feel the headache coming on. "What is it?"

"There's a report of a strange jutsu being used in our northern forest, something about crimson chakra chains…"

Tsunade turned around, her chair crashing into the ground. "What did you say the colour was?"

"C-C-Crimson, Tsunade-sama…"

Tsunade gritted her teeth. "That's it!" She declared, ignoring the messenger's wince at her tone. "I've had enough of this!"

Turning to face the frightened messenger, she ordered, "Inform the council that the village is in lockdown. Send for the Hokage guard, and send Kakashi a message that he's got exactly five minutes to get here if he doesn't want to be in punishment detail for the rest of his life. Emergency mission, possible S-Rank. Go!"

As the messenger scurried away, Tsunade searched her desk for her combat attire. "Now if Snake-face were there, then it'll be a party," she thought wryly as she strapped her equipment pouch on, before staring out of her window at the northern forest. Squinting, she could just make out something that looked like a tentacle poking through the wooded expanse. So that was where Naruto was. At least he was alive.

'Whatever happens, brat, don't die out there.'

…

Kimimaro's bone whip slashed into a rolling figure, which went up in smoke as two thick chainlike chakra constructs barreled into him from the other side of the clearing. Wincing slightly at their speed, he held his **_Dance of the Clematis: Flower _**encrusted hand as an impromptu shield. The two chains slammed into the curling bone lance, sending bone chips flying as Kimimaro skidded back from the force of the impact. Even as he used his dinosaur-like tail to steady himself, Kimimaro pushed back at the chains with his bone covered arm, even as his other hand swung his bone whip at the source of the chains, the ligaments between the vertebrae stretching grotesquely as they tried to wrap around the figure, only to meet a barrier in the form of an increasing cage of chakra chains surrounding him.

"You are now starting to annoy me, Konoha shinobi." Kimimaro's monotonous voice floated around the clearing. In the other end of it, Chouji, still nursing his wounds, winced at the threat in the voice, while Mito, in the very centre of the rather large patch of wood devastated by the fight, bristled, looking up from her intent examination of the barrel containing Sasuke.

The fight between Kimimaro and Naruto was fierce, with them equal in their speed and agility, with Naruto's multiple chains countered by Kimimaro's dance of the clematis techniques. Both of them were panting as they dodged each other's attacks, cuts littering their bodies from near misses.

Then, suddenly, in the middle of yet another deadlock, Kimimaro suddenly stiffened, before his techniques faltered as he spat out blood. Immediately capitalizing on the opening, two chains immediately tore into Kimimaro, one piercing his upper thigh and spearing his tail as the other dug into the whip wielding hand.

Hurriedly jumping away while absentmindedly forming bone plates above his cuts to slow his bleeding, Kimimaro's lips set into a thin line.

"I will not die before I fulfill Orochimaru-sama's purpose," he declared, looking mutinously at the panting Uzumaki before him.

Naruto smirked, flashing Kimimaro a bloody grin. "Then you'll probably have to try being immortal, Kaguya."

Kimamaro gritted his teeth as he prepared to fight, a sense of futility seeping into him. Even if he defeated this monstrosity, he would still have to fight the disappearing woman and the fat boy. On top of that, his curse seal was enhancing his disease to the point of no return; he would be lucky to survive long enough to report to Orochimaru-sama.

Trying to fight through the pain, he stumbled, suddenly feeling dizzy as his knees hit the ground. His mind was getting fuzzy, and his sense of vertigo was increasing, even as he instinctively blocked Naruto's attempts to land a hit on him. Blood was filling his mouth, and he could feel rivulets of blood flowing down his wounded arm through the plates of bone, and his sense of balance was worsening.

Then, with an ominous crack, wood splints showered the clearing as the barrel containing Sasuke burst open. Mito, closest to the explosion, barely managed to cross her arms over her face before the explosion tore into her, throwing her into a nearby tree. Immediately afterwards, Naruto felt an immense drain on his chakra as Mito's seal automatically diverted some of his chakra to healing her chakra shell. Letting out an involuntary groan, Naruto sank to his knees in exhaustion, even as the chakra smoke obscuring the remains of the barrel dissipated, showing a monstrous figure standing on the remains of the barrel.

Two leathery, hand-like protrusions emerged from the shoulder blades of the creature, and glaring crimson eyes stared at the prone figures of the fighters through long locks of gray hair. Crimson eyes, with spinning black tomoe in them, that widened as they took in the destruction of the clearing. Then the colour bled out of the figure, starting from his extremities and reaching towards his shoulder. The creature grew smaller, the leathery hand-like wings disappeared, and then the last remnants of the transformation, black tribal marking, drew back leaving a pale Sasuke standing in the middle of the clearing.

**A.N.**

**_Eight Trigrams Sixty Four Palms – Immobilization or death inducing Main House Juuken technique of the Hyuuga._**

**_Armour of Sticky Gold – Technique in which Kidomaru excretes his special sticky gold from his pores, creating a hard armour that even block the Juuken._**

**_Dance of the Larch – Taijutsu technique of the Kaguya clan, in which several barb-like bones extend from their bodies before they start a spinning attack pattern which shreds anyone nearby._**

**_Dance of the Camellia – Kenjutsu technique of the Kaguya, employing a bone sword made of the bone of the user's upper arm._**

**_Dance of the Clematis (Vine, Flower) – Paired techniques of the Kaguya clan. The vine, which uses the user's spinal column, immobilizes the opponent while the Flower, formed of the densest bones, pierces them._**


	8. The Toad in the Ointment

**A.N. **The fight! This chapter concludes the serious battles of the Sasuke retrieval arc. So, in a related note, have you ever asked yourself exactly why did Naruto never summon any of his toads in the canon arc? I just find it a bit strange, seeing as he didn't exactly have a lot of other techniques to use anyway!

So, without further ado, here is the chapter eight of the Tales of the Arcane!

_Disclaimer: Naruto and all its characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I do own a tri-kunai though… does that count?_

_Chapter 8 : The Toad in the Ointment_

…

_Oh, mama mia, mama mia (Mama mia, let me go.)  
Beelzebub has a devil put aside for me, for me, for me._

**_Bohemian Rhapsody – Queen_**

…

Naruto glared at Sasuke through lidded, crimson eyes. Sasuke stared back, the glow of the Sharingan hypnotic in the gloom of the forest. The forest was quiet; any and all fauna had been driven miles away by now, with the continuous clashes of ninja within the forest. The only sounds to be heard were Kimimaro's insistent coughing, and Chouji's somewhat hysterical gasps. Mito was still healing from the damage she had taken when the barrel had unexpectedly broken open.

Then, Sasuke scoffed. "You're the one they sent to stop me, dobe? They could have as well told me to stay away!"

Naruto looked incensed; Chouji, looking from the sidelines saw his canines peek out of his mouth as a warning growl burst from his throat. When he spoke, his voice was rougher than normal, sounding feral as he glared daggers at the Uchiha.

"I bet you're proud of yourself, huh, Sasuke? I hope you know you've just signed the death warrant of not only yourself, but the entire Uchiha clan! What a wonderful clan heir you turned out to be, but then I suppose you never were, you know? After all, Itachi is the Uchiha clan heir!"

Sasuke's Sharingan spun in irritation as he grit his teeth. However, before he could retort to Naruto's taunt, a shaky voice cut in. "Sasuke-sama. Orochimaru-sama sends his regards, but you must hurry. You will be late. Go. I will hold them off."

"And you are…"

"Kaguya Kimimaro. Previous leader of the Sound Five."

Looking between Naruto and Kimimaro, Sasuke paused, indecisive. Then he shook his head, before speaking without turning to face him. "Very well. Do not let them follow. I have no time for the likes of them." Turning abruptly, Sasuke sprinted into the forest.

With a growl, Naruto leapt to his feet, running after Sasuke, only to run straight into the path of Kimimaro's bone vine. Muttering a curse in his throat, he turned to stare murder on the Kaguya. "You are going to regret that."

In a flash, the surrounding was overwhelmed with clones, each of them carrying a rasengan as they charged at Kimimaro, who was panting with exhaustion and coughing blood.

He gave the approaching Naruto's a somber glance. "So it has finally come to this… No matter. I shall die as I have lived, in the service of Orochimaru-sama! **_Dance of the Seedling Fern!_**"

Bones sprouted from the ground, sharp tipped curved bones of enormous sizes sprouting all over the patch of forest, making it resemble a monster's graveyard. Most of Naruto's clones had been dispelled in the attack; however a few had managed to cling onto the rising surfaces, while another had managed to rescue the unconscious Mito. Chouji, looking shell-shocked, had just managed to scramble onto an unharmed tree, and he was now waving frantically to Naruto.

"Naruto! You go after Sasuke, I take care of things here!" Gesturing wildly at the forest of bones, he looked at Naruto with a small grin. "Besides, this is more suited to my style anyway! **_Multi Size Technique: Human Bullet Tank!_**"

As Chouji began to carve a path of destruction through the newly created bone forest, Naruto positioned himself in the middle of the bone field. "Don't be mad! I've seen these types of kekkei genkai before, and if this is what I think this is, it isn't going to be pretty!"

Suddenly, all the surviving clones of Naruto began to pop. 'Well', Naruto thought as his clones continued to dispel, 'at least he doesn't seem to be able to identify me from the clones'.

Settling into a meditative stance, Naruto closed his eyes in order to obtain a fledgling sense of where Kimimaro was. After all, he had seen this very same tactic with Haku in the land of waves; it was never good news when an elemental kekkei genkai user disappeared into the element of his choice. Suddenly, he noticed the warped chakra of Kimimaro, right behind Chouji, hiding inside a bone spear.

"Chouji, get away!" Even as Chouji, still in his round form, bounced up and out of the clearing, six spiked chains shot out of Naruto, each traversing the length of the bone field and each at a slightly different height from the other.

Kimimaro, half out of the bone spear, barely had time to look shocked, as the chains began to spin along their axis, forming six drills that tore away nearby bone spears.

Naruto held his hands out horizontally, away from his body."Well, we'll see how this works. **_"Spiked Chains: Atomic Separator!" _**Naruto spun in place, and the spinning chakra chains whipped through the bone forest with the scraping sound of ground bone.

Kimimaro, trapped in place by the very technique he had used, attempted to form a bone cage around him, but before he could complete the bone growth, the first of the chains smashed into his stomach with a spray of blood.

Kimimaro's screams echoed around the clearing, as one by one, five more of the rapidly spinning chains crashed into his half emerged body.

When Naruto's technique finally stopped, a silence descended on the clearing. Chouji, safely out of the range of the clearing, gulped nervously. He seemed to be holding back the urge to retch, and as the bone splinters settled, Naruto understood as the area around where Kimimaro had been was bathed in blood; the same brackish blood Naruto had noticed in Jirobou. And in the centre, half buried in the bone he was exiting, were what remained of Kimimaro, resembling not so much a human as a lump of shredded meat.

Doing his best to ignore the carnage he had caused, Naruto turned away from the sight to look at Chouji, who flinched, not meeting his eyes. Naruto, ignoring the reaction, tonelessly spoke. "Well, now we don't have a barrel to protect, you better go help the others." Looking to the north, where the Uchiha had vanished to, he growled. "Sasuke is mine."

Gulping, Chouji spoke as he turned away, preparing to go after the renegade Uchiha. "Um… Naruto, are you sure you can fight? I mean, uh…" He gestured to Naruto's battered form, and his tattered clothes.

Naruto simply gave him a bloodthirsty grin before turning back and disappearing into the forest, followed by a silent clone carrying the form of Mito. His voice floated back to a petrified Chouji. "More than enough to kill the fool."

Chouji stared at the forest into which Naruto had disappeared, before shrugging and following him. He might as well regroup with Shikamaru. He would know what to make of this, anyway.

…

As Naruto silently tree hopped, following the trail of Sasuke, he was deep in thought. The last technique he had used in the clearing had been one he had invented during practice last night, and Mito had immediately vetoed his use of the technique until he was more proficient at the manipulation of the chains. She had thought that Naruto had not been ready to see the destruction caused by, in her words, a 'crude and inelegant technique'. Naruto had vehemently disagreed, before he had been reluctantly cowed into not using it by Mito. At that time, he had considered Mito to be stifling him, to be coddling him from a reality he considered himself exposed to from his youth. Now though, after he had seen the results of his more destructive jutsu, he was beginning to reconsider his opinion.

Naruto had had a rough childhood. Growing up on the civilian sectors of Konoha, so soon after the Kyuubi Disaster, had not been easy for a child publicly known to be the Kyuubi jinchuuriki. However, now that he thought about it, it had also allowed him a certain disassociation with the realities of life in shinobi village. Naruto had never killed before this mission, which had proved a surprise to Jiraiya when he had inquired on Naruto's first kill, back when he had been training for the Chunin exam. He had been offended at the time, thinking that Jiraiya had been implying that he was a monster, before Jiraiya had sat down to explain.

Naruto's techniques, simply put, were not aimed towards capture. Even the basic Kuchiyose Jutsu that Naruto could employ was geared towards straight combat. Naruto supposed that it was even more so with his Uzumaki chakra expression; after all there wasn't many ways to not kill when using giant chains with foot long blades poking out from every link. However, whether from Kakashi's design, or his own unpredictable luck, he had, until now, managed to avoid killing anyone.

He scoffed derisively. Well, that had lasted long enough. Now, seven months into his shinobi career, Naruto had taken his first life, and just now he had taken his second. And he now understood what Mito had meant when she had said that using that technique would haunt him. Naruto was not sure he would be able to stop hearing that final scream of Kimimaro.

Jiraiya, when discussing kills with him, had told him 'a lucky shinobi gets a clean kill'. Naruto supposed he could understand that. Naruto's first kill had been Jirobou, but at the time he had been to drowning in the Kyuubi's chakra, and he had barely noticed the actual kill. On the contrary, Kimimaro had been killed in a conscious decision, one that had little to do with him, and more to do with time. On top of that, the death had been prolonged, and extremely messy, and as Naruto was directly connected to his chains he had felt as each blade had entered Kimimaro's body again and again as the blades cut into him. It was, after all, the reason he had named the technique Atomic Separator. When he had tried the technique on the training logs, each log had been roughly gouged into sawdust by the fast spinning blades. However that had not prepared him for what Kimimaro's corpse had looked like after being exposed to the technique; a fine mushy blob of pinkish flesh, draining blood onto the surroundings.

Naruto shuddered, trying to distract himself from the images. He did _not _need to be freaking out when he was going to face Sasuke in what was sure to turn out to be a death match. Whatever his other faults, Sasuke _was _a skilled shinobi, and his Sharingan was hard to counter.

Suddenly, a giant humanoid construct lumbered into sight, blindly swinging a giant club, before it suddenly disappeared in a cloud of chakra. A summon? Here? Well, if thought rationally, that had to mean that there was some sort of sound shinobi nearby, probably engaging one of his teammates. He was less sure of who the controller of the summon was, though he supposed it couldn't be the six-armed one, so it was probably the kunoichi or the two headed shinobi. Naruto smirked; he would bet on Shikamaru fighting the kunoichi, the pineapple haired chunin was just unlucky that way.

Anyway, he couldn't help them personally; he had to stop the idiot before he crossed the border, or risk open war with the Sound. Not that Konoha couldn't take them on, but according to Ghost lady, Baa-chan didn't want open war just yet. And shadow clones were out of the question. Not only would they be useless without him to direct them in battle, seeing as they still had the tendency to fight each other, but his chakra was getting low as it was. He hoped it would recover before the fight, or he might have to rely on the Kyuubi's chakra, and it was _not _fun.

Well, seeing as the opponent was a summon user, albeit of non-living creatures, he supposed he could help. Running through a series of hand seals and nicking his thumb, he slapped a branch as he hopped past it. **_"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"_**

"Hello, Naru-chan!" A simpering voice called out from the smoke.

Naruto resisted the urge to facefault as he looked back at the toad. The toad, comfortably keeping up with him as he ran, waved a webbed foot at him in an overly feminine way. Staving off a headache through will alone, Naruto addressed the toad. "Hello, Gamariki-san."

"And why did Naru-chan call little me today, ribbit!" Gamariki batted his eyelashes at a repulsed Naruto. Naruto sighed; this toad was the best at getting under his skin, even more than the Toad boss or Gamatatsu.

"I didn't, I was hoping for Gamabou," Naruto deadpanned. "But you'll do, I guess."

"Well I never!" Gamariki simpered, pouting at Naruto through painted lips. Naruto repressed a shudder. "Doesn't Naru-chan like me?"

"No," Naruto said flatly, "But I want you to go help a teammate of mine, he's fighting an opponent about 300 metres away, in that direction. Just help any Konoha shinobi there, I've given you a little extra chakra."

Gamariki didn't seem to be listening, instead glaring at Naruto through heavily lidded lashes. "Naru-chan, that was rude."

Naruto's patience was waning. "Damn it, Gamariki! Just go there and help, it's a life and death situation!"

The large toad's expression changed abruptly. "You should have led with that, brat." It rebuked, with a deep voice that was totally at odds with his usual simper. "Ooh! I smell spiders! See you later, Naru-chan!" It added flirtingly in its normal tone as it hopped away, heading in a different direction to where Naruto had pointed.

"Oi, that's the wrong direction!"

"See ya later, Naru-chan!" Gamariki waved nonchalantly, totally ignoring Naruto as he hopped away and out sight.

Naruto stared at the toad disbelievingly, before shaking his head and continuing to trace Sasuke's scent. After all, Konoha had its Maito Gais and its Rock Lees and its Jiraiyas. Who was he to complain about a strange toad?

…

**_"Kuchiyose: Kyodaigumo: Amagumo!"_**

"**_Kaiten!"_**

Neji continued to spin as the chakra shell of the Kaiten spun around, scattering the falling spiders. Leaping away from the overhanging web, a transformed Kidomaru turned to face Neji.

"Face it, Hyuuga. You'll have to come out of your cage sometime, and then it's going to be game over for you."

Neji struggled to continue the spin of the technique; it was getting harder with his body being weighed down by the webbing issuing from the baby spiders. Yelling inarticulately, Neji stopped spinning before settling into a stance. **_"Eight Trigrams: One Hundred and Twenty Eight Palms!"_**

With pointed beams of blue chakra issuing from his hands, Neji's hands sped up as he systematically bisected each and every spider around him, while avoiding the arrows shot at him by Kidomaru from the other side. But he was getting tired, he wouldn't last much longer if this onslaught continued. However, moving now was impossible since if he tried to move he would have to let his guard down, which would let either the spider or the arrows hit him. Neither was advisable; he needed all his mobility for this fight.

Cursing under his breath as he smoothly transitioned from the One Hundred and Twenty Eight Palms back to Kaiten, Neji tried to think of a way to escape the trap, when all of a sudden a beribboned toad was in the middle of the clearing.

"Yummy!" With an exclamation, Kidomaru's Kyodaigumo was pulled into a pair of painted lips, where it hung limp. Kidomaru yelled in anger, firing an arrow into its eyes, but the toad simply batted it away, before giving Neji a disturbingly coy look after it had swallowed the giant spider.

"Hello there, Hyuuga-chan, I'm Gamariki. Naru-chan sent me to help you!" The toad proceeded to bat his eyelashes at him, pouting at him in what was obviously meant to be a sexy pose. Skin crawling, Neji looked away, a long-suffering sigh escaping his mouth. A drag queen toad was Naruto's idea of help? That guy had problems. Though he supposed it _had_ helped him out, since now that the spider summon was out of the way, the fight was much more even. It still did not make it less disturbing.

"Hyuuga-chan, climb onto me!" Gamariki simpered, making Neji fight the urge to retch, face colouring. Hearing the snort escaping from the Kidomaru only managed to anger him further, but he nevertheless complied.

"The name is Neji. Hyuuga Neji." He grumbled, as he climbed atop the toad, sitting astride its neck.

"Gotcha, Neji-chan!"

Kidomaru chose this moment to intervene, getting fed up of his arrows getting caught by a prehensile tongue. "Heh. Having a friend send you a summon to help you, that's a new low, even for you, Konoha trash."

"Yeah, because you don't use summons ever," Neji snarked. He was getting irritable, not used to being outlasted. He knew that he was almost out of chakra, and though the chakra flow in his opponent was chaotic and strangely corrupted, he still had more than enough chakra for a few more techniques.

Gamariki sniffed."Yeah, you're rude, spider-chan. I know what to do, I'll kiss you and make it better!" As both shinobi looked on horrified, the toad leapt _through _the webbing Kidomaru had hastily erected, reaching down to bind Kidomaru with his tongue. **_"Whip of Love!"_**

As Kidomaru struggled vainly in his bindings, Gamariki hauled him in before pressing a sloppy kiss to the face of a struggling Kidomaru. **_"Genjutsu Kiss!"_**

Kidomaru, still in his second stage transformation, froze for a moment before a look of utter terror crossed his face and he keeled over. Neji looked on with wide eyes.

Finally getting over his shock, Neji vaulted over Gamariki's head, leaning down near Kidomaru, who was now whimpering. "Well, this was not how I expected this to end," Neji said lightly, before picking up one of the golden kunai lying scattered on the ground. "So long, Kidomaru-san."

The kunai came down in an arc across Kidomaru's exposed throat, and blood sprayed across the clearing. Neji stared at the bleeding corpse blankly, before he turned his back and walked towards Gamariki. Looking at Gamariki, who was staring at him in surprise, Neji shrugged. "What? We're in no position to take prisoners."

Slowly, Gamariki's expression turned to subtle approval, before he spoke in a gruff voice, patting Neji on the back with one webbed foot. "Good for you, kid. Most people don't get that mature until it's too late."

"Well, we can't all be children, can we?"

Gamariki chuckled. "That we can't. Hop on, kid. One of your friends seemed to be in a spot of trouble."

Neji clambered up the toad's neck, settling just above its lurid bow as the toad hopped out of the clearing. On the floor, the corpse of Kidomaru, still in its transformed state, bled on to the forest floor.

…

"What the hell happened here?"

The Hokage entourage had been heading for the nearest chakra source, only to come across a wasteland. Tsunade, who had dropped to a crouch, was looking at the pierced corpse clinically. Shizune, behind her, was hovering behind her in obvious worry. Two masked ANBU members stood off to a side, scanning for any potential threats while Kakashi leaned against a nearby tree, watching the proceedings lazily. Asuma, who had been the one to ask the question, was staring at the destruction with his cigarette hanging limply, threatening to set fire to his beard.

Kakashi was the one to answer him. "Looking at the scuff marks, and the footprints, there were two separate battles here, though it seems as if the first was much more destructive than the first."

Asuma gestured at the corpse. "So I guess he died in the second fight?"

Tsunade spoke, checking over the corpse. "Large piercing wounds through the mouth, heart and stomach were done simultaneously; they were the cause of death. In addition, the corpse has a multitude of small lacerations, all seem to be made from a large, sharp blade-like object, and a large gash in the abdomen area, also consistent with a large blade. Also, one of the hands seem strangely deformed; there are signs of a cursed seal on the corpse."

Kakashi took up the explanation. "Three groups have left the clearing, all heading in roughly the same direction. The first consisted of three people, one carrying a heavy object, judging by the depth of the impression, with an additional trail following immediately afterwards. The second group consisted of 5 shinobi, in a lisped linear formation. The last consisted of a single wounded shinobi, and the tracks head slightly more to the West than the others, leaving this clearing approximately twenty minutes ago. Judging by the whirlpool indent in the shoeprints, and the scrap of bloodied orange fabric in that tree over there," here Kakashi pointed at tree in question, which had a scrap of orange fabric dyed red in places with blood tied to one of the lower boughs, "the lone shinobi is Naruto."

Shizune looked at Kakashi, shocked. "Surely you don't mean…"

Tsunade stood up, finished with the field autopsy. "This is Naruto's kill. There are traces of Kyuubi chakra in the smaller wounds and in the death blows, and in substantial quantities in the gash across the right side of the abdomen." Looking around the clearing, which was full of displaced boulders, large craters, and splatters of blood, Tsunade continued grimly. "And it looks like he didn't get away unscathed from the exchange, especially with the Kyuubi chakra blanketing the area."

The ANBU to the right decided to join in the conversation. "Hokage-sama, which trail should we follow?"

Tsunade sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose as she looked at the trails. Finally she answered. "We will follow Naruto's tracks. Either he is lying a short distance away, which could mean he needs immediate attention, or he will have joined up with the others at some point."

The ANBU tried to protest. "But, Tsunade-sama, the immediate retrieval is more important-"

"Silence!" Tsunade thundered, turning to glare at the ANBU in question. "The wellbeing of Konoha's Jinchuuriki takes precedence over that of the traitorous Uchiha. Kakashi-san, how long to catch up with him?"

"It he had his normal speed, and he is delayed by further fights, I would say in about fifteen minutes at jounin speeds… But factoring in possible wounds, and any Kyuubi enhancements, I'll say about twenty five, just to be safe."

Tsunade straightened up, even as Asuma whistled in surprise. "Then we'll have to move quickly; the Sound border is only twenty minutes away. Let's go, I don't think I can bear the feel of the Kyuubi chakra much longer."

In a blur, all the jounin exited the clearing, heading for the hostile border of Sound.

…

"Sasuke!" Naruto yelled as he finally came into sight of the fleeing Uchiha, the yell coming out as a growl as he chased him .

Ignoring him for the time being, Sasuke sprinted out of the forest, which abruptly gave way to the deep stone cliffs that formed the Valley of the End, a landmark of Konoha that had stood from the start of the Nidaime's reign. It also served as the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Rice Paddies.

Vaulting over the Head of Hashirama's statue that adorned Konoha's border at the waterfall, Sasuke landed on his ancestor's head before finally turning to face Naruto. "So you finally caught up, dobe. Looks like we have some _unfinished business_, don't we?"

Naruto slowly jogged up the Hashirama statue before jumping down to Hashirama's outstretched hand, where he doubled over, panting. "You've… got to be… kidding me, teme!" He wheezed, looking incredulously at Sasuke, "You came to the _Valley of the End_ to have a standoff against me? While I'm flattered you think I'm as good as the First Hokage, I don't think your ancestor would be pleased, do you?"

Sasuke scowled, before leaping down on top of Madara's hand, glaring at Naruto through a pair of spinning Sharingan. "Talking isn't going to help you now, dobe," Sasuke gloated, an insane glint in his eye, "I'm going to kill you now, then I will gain the power to kill my brother!"

Naruto stared at him, before straightening up, staring at Sasuke's eyes. He could feel Sasuke bristle, all the way across the valley; staring into their eyes during battle was the worst insult you could do to an Uchiha, as it said you disregarded their eye prowess. Looking at Sasuke through blood caked crimson locks, Naruto spoke. "This is the last chance to turn back, Uchiha. Surrender and come quietly!"

"You never learn, do you, dobe?" Sasuke scoffed, "such presumption, to think you could ever beat an Uchiha! But I won't stop you from trying, your attempts only benefit me."

"Well then, we've reached an impasse, haven't we?" Naruto inquired as his hand slipped into his kunai pouch, one of the few things to have survived the earlier battles. Pushing his blood soaked hair from his eyes with his other, he looked at Sasuke with an unreadable expression. "As a last favor for my ex-teammate I'll give you one last piece of advice, teme, in the unlikely event you leave this alive." He held up one hand, stopping Sasuke from charging, "Don't let hate consume you, you'll just die poorer for it." Then, with a grunt of effort, three chains burst from his back, and with them waving behind him, he gestured to the suddenly enraged Sasuke.

"Come, Uchiha Sasuke. Let's battle."

…

Sasuke met Naruto in midair, kunai clashing as they tried to overpower each other. As Sasuke attempted to dislodge Naruto with a kick, Naruto pushed away, pivoting using his chains as he drove a fist to Sasuke's knee with an audible crack. Gritting his teeth, Sasuke retaliated, catching the retreating fist, using it to wrench Naruto in the opposite direction as they both landed roughly on the faces of the statues, clinging with chakra. Splinters flew from the statues at their landing, as they stared at each other, crimson slits staring into crimson eyes with a pair of black tomoe on each eye.

Then they were back at each other, kunai clashing against kunai as they sought to overpower each other, engaging in a fearsome taijutsu bout while defending themselves from the others kunai.

Naruto, tethered by a pair of chakra chains to the statues, was staying relatively still, never offering the first blow while using the chains to maneuver in midair. Mito had explained earlier that Uchiha taijutsu relied on counterstrikes, therefore making them make the first move seriously hampered their choices. Meanwhile Sasuke was flitting around him, trying to puncture Naruto's defense with his superior speed.

"What," Naruto ducked under a deceptively fast kunai to the throat, "the hell," using his chains to pull himself above a potentially crippling jab to the abdomen, Naruto somersaulted, driving a double kick towards the Uchiha's face, who curled around the attack before using one of Naruto's chains to leap above Naruto, "are these infernal chains, dobe?"

Deflecting a stray kunai with a flick of his chain, Naruto pulled himself onto Hashirama's stone face, as Sasuke landed opposite him. "Well, it's just a little trick I learned recently, teme." Grinning sadistically, he took another kunai in a reverse grip, double wielding them as his chains twirled around him. "Care to try again, teme? It looks to me like you're losing your edge."

As soon as he stopped talking, Naruto let go of his grip on the statue, freefalling as a blast of fire zoomed overhead from Sasuke's **_Goukakyuu no Jutsu_**. As he fell parallel to the waterfall using his chains to slow himself, Sasuke followed, forming more hand seals as he fell.

**_"Katon: Housenka no Jutsu!"_**

A multitude of fireballs sprayed from Sasuke's mouth, heading towards Naruto. Twisting in midair, Naruto dived into the pool at the foot of the statues in order to avoid the fireballs, while a trailing chain slammed into Sasuke's side, throwing him harshly onto the stone feet of the Madara statue.

Staggering, Sasuke slowly stood, holding his ribs tenderly where the chain had gripped him, a dark spot forming on his shirt as blood leaked through. However, he was smirking.

Naruto shot up from the bottom of the pool, leaping over the water and landing on it, facing Sasuke. Fresh blood leaked from a half-cauterized cut in his face received from shuriken hidden in the miniature fireballs, before the wound steamed and sealed shut.

Naruto smirked as he balanced on the water, having lost his kunai in the exchange. "You'll have to do better than that, teme, if you want to kill me."

Yelling in rage, Sasuke threw a volley of shuriken at Naruto, running at him in their wake. Then one of the chains had batted away the incoming shuriken, and there were half a dozen Naruto clones charging him. Ducking under simultaneous kicks from opposite sides to his head, he tried to sweep the legs off the nearest clones. Then a third clone was bringing his leg down in a heel drop, forcing Sasuke to twist away from the attack, retreating to relative safety.

His hand dipping briefly into his supply pouch, Sasuke sprinted around the Naruto clones, occasionally throwing a shuriken at the group, but they were all deflected by the clones as they stood their ground. Then all the clones were pulled together by invisible wires attached to each shuriken, and with a devious smirk, Sasuke held the other end of the ninja wire to his lips. **_"Katon: Ryuuka no Jutsu!"_**

When the flame reached the captured clones, they dispelled in a burst of chakra smoke, just as Sasuke's ankles were grabbed from underwater, pulling him in. Using the sinking Sasuke as a support, Naruto leapt up, driving Sasuke further down in the process, before he vaulted onto the feet of the Hashirama statue, waiting for Sasuke to resurface.

Then Sasuke leapt out of the water onto the Statue of Madara, glaring at Naruto as water dripped from his body in a cascade. His teeth clenched, Sasuke reached for the shoulder, before black seal markings spread from beneath his fingers, racing across his body.

His eyes were now fixed on Naruto, glittering with an inner madness that startled Naruto, as Sasuke cupped one hand in the other in preparation of a technique. Sasuke had always been rather close to the edge psychologically, but it was proving to be a completely different thing to actually witness him going off the deep end; for Sasuke was indeed broken. There was no longer any glimmer of intelligence in the swirling Sharingan, just anger and the desperation of a caged beast. He had no option now, even if he desired it; Sasuke would either be killed, or he would be killed by Sasuke.

The pool lit up an iridescent blue as lightning natured chakra began to flicker across the fingers of Sasuke's outstretched hand, and a manic grin spread across his face. **_"Chidori!"_**

In the next instant, Sasuke was speeding towards Naruto, a lightning encrusted knife-hand speeding towards his face as he dodged Naruto's flailing chains. Leaping over a swinging chain, Sasuke's Chidori cut through the last chain just as Naruto tried to swerve around the incoming jab. With a screech of lightning discharge, the Chidori buried itself deep into Naruto's shoulder. Naruto let out a strangled yell as the electricity surged through his body, before another chain burst through his navel, shooting into and through Sasuke's abdomen as it threw him off his feet and into the statue.

There was silence for a moment, which was broken in an instant as both fighters crumpled onto their respective statues, blood seeping from their wounds. Naruto's chains dissolved as he couldn't muster the necessary concentration to manifest them, and he screamed hoarsely as red, viscous chakra coursed up his shoulder, which was bleeding profusely. On the other statue, Sasuke had collapsed, fingers grasping onto the puncture hole caused by Naruto's chain as he writhed in agony.

With a guttural groan from Sasuke, his cursed seal flared again as the markings started to spread onto the unaltered skin, the already affected features bubbling in its wake. Sasuke was becoming bulkier, muscle mass increasing as his skin took on an unnatural grayish shade, and his hair extended and became blue-grey. With a spurt of blood, hand-like appendages burst from his shoulder blades to hover behind him, and the sclera taking on a dull grey colour as his puncture wound healed. A blackish shuriken marking appeared on his face as Sasuke got up, his leathery appendages making small movements as he tested them.

At the other side, red chakra was coalescing at the Chidori wound, before it spread in a cloak over Naruto's body. His hair was rising in a nonexistent breeze, crimson locks separating into nine spiky protrusions which waved behind his head as his canines extended and his whisker marks gouged deeper into his face. The cloak bubbled, forming three tails and a pair of canine ears in the cloak as Naruto settled into a four legged crouch, Kyuubi chakra scorching the rock below him as a pair of black veined crimson eyes observed the creature in front of them.

A raspy chuckle escaped the throat of the Kyuubified Naruto, as he looked at the transformed Sasuke. "Teme, I never took you for a drag queen!" Then a somber look passed across his face. "Just look at yourself, Sasuke, willing to give up your independence, your humanity for a sliver of power that you won't even get to enjoy. Are you really that shallow, to become a monster for a chance to fulfill a dream? Take it from someone on the other side, teme. Very few survive being a monster with their humanity intact, and those that do never chose their fate."

Sasuke did not respond, snarling at Naruto, the overlarge hand-like appendages flapping behind him. Dirty purple chakra rippled above his skin as he crouched, Sharingan flaring back into life, six tomoe swimming in the dark crimson pools.

Naruto's Kyuubi tail constructs were suddenly pierced through with his chains, only they were now crimson in colour, matching his chakra cloak and his eyes, with deep black veins running throughout their length. They also seemed to be aflame, a reddish transparent flame coating each chain link. Eyes flashing, Naruto gave Sasuke a taunting grin. "Come on then, teme. Let's see what being the slave of Snake-face got the 'last Uchiha'."

With an enraged roar, Sasuke ran towards Naruto, the claws in the appendages protruding from his shoulder blades poised to attack and his hands running through hand seals. Inhaling, Sasuke breathed a torrent of fire at Naruto, who simply smirked as he ran headfirst into the conflagration. Suddenly, from within the fireball, a flaming chain arced out towards Sasuke, puncturing through the leather webbing in his 'wings', burning it as it tore through effortlessly, leaving Sasuke pinned. Following the chain, Naruto emerged from the fire, completely unharmed as he ran towards a trapped Sasuke, a glowing crimson ball of chakra in his hand, leaving swirling and turning air currents in its wake. Sasuke countered by creating another Chidori, coloured black by the corrupted chakra.

**_"Rasengan!"_**

**_"Chidori!"_**

…

A hunched figure slowly made its way down a darkened corridor, leaning on a walking stick, towards a set of oak doors. Two people walked behind the figure, both talking in heated tones.

"Danzo, this step is unprecedented! We won't simply be able to undo what you're going to do!"

Danzo chuckled grimly, looking back at the Hokage's advisors. "I realize that, Koharu," he said quietly, his good eye squinting at the wizened figure of the female advisor and teammate of the Third Hokage. "However, we can't allow the mistakes of Sarutobi to continue – For all her bluster, Tsunade-hime is still too soft to take the necessary decisions."

Homura spoke, his gaze fixed on the ROOT leader. "Danzo, we've gone along with your plans because they have been for the good of Konoha. But what you're trying to do, it could destabilize everything! We're not in a position to enter a war, surely you realize that!"

Danzo simply smirked. "On the contrary, _Suna _is not prepared for war. My ROOT can easily disrupt what little resistance Suna can muster."

Koharu looked at Danzo, protesting. "But attacking Suna in their home territory, that's suicide! I will not allow you to send any more of our forces to their deaths for no gain! We don't have enough forces for the stalemate this is going to become, Danzo, and mark my words, this is going to end up destroying both Suna and Konoha!"

Danzo stared back at Koharu. "Don't be so quick to decide, Koharu. We simply need the upper hand in the surrender. Once we have them within our grasp, we can make sure they never try something like this again. Tsunade-hime was going to make our treaty more favourable for Suna!" He gritted his teeth. "I will never allow that to happen, not while I live! I lost my arm in the wars to get us that deal!"

Homura looked at Danzo, surprised. "You mean you're doing this for personal revenge? This is going to weaken both our countries, Danzo! The lack of war between our two countries is the only thing that's stopping Onoki from an outright invasion, surely you see that? What you're going to do, it could lead to another shinobi world war!"

Danzo grunted. "Nevertheless, Suna can't get out of betraying us without any repercussions, like Tsunade-hime would have us do!"

Koharu grimaced. "Then I'm sorry old friend, but I cannot support you in this attempt. I will not be party to creating world war. Good luck getting the approval without our support!"

Danzo gave a sinister chuckle as he passed through the oak doors, entering the council chambers. "You'll be surprised, old friend. You'll be surprised."

…

"I bloody well hope I appreciate what I'm doing," Naruto grumbled as he dipped his finger into a small pot containing a thick crimson liquid, which he was using to draw patterns on a translucent body placed on a stone slab. "And damn, that was confusing. Why can't the bloody original be the clone for once?"

The woman lying on the slab gave a pained snort. The Naruto clone gave it an annoyed look. "Oh shut up, Ghost Lady! You're lucky boss had already had me created for some time when you decided to get yourself blown up!"

Mito gave it a withering glare, accompanied by a much less friendly snort. The Naruto clone stared back, looking decidedly unimpressed. "Well you did! I wonder how you survived to be ancient, Ghost Lady, if you're so damn careless!"

A hint of a grin blossomed on the Naruto clone's face as Mito grunted in indignation at the old comment. "Well, you _are_ ancient, Ghost Lady! Anyway, be glad I am here for you to go all vampire on."

Mito sniffed, as the Naruto clone continued drawing the blood seal on her forehead, this time with a definite smirk playing around his lips. "Whatever you say, Ghost Lady. You're still going to absorb all my chakra when I commit glorified suicide by activating a seal I drew that I barely understood enough to draw. I still can't figure out half the arrays!"

Mito gurgled, before speaking in a raspy whisper. "Naruto-kun, it isn't like I can get the chakra from the regular source, you know – I'm pretty sure my seal's been completely torched by the Kyuubi chakra by now." Suddenly the whining sound of disturbed wind and the crackle of lightning filled the air, obvious over the muted explosions before. The Naruto clone looked in the direction of the sound, startled.

"Damn, that's not good," he muttered to himself as he started to draw the symbols hurriedly, "if I'm already using the Rasengan and the teme is already using the Chidori, I don't have much time." Looking at Mito, who looked ready to comment, he hurriedly added, "And you, don't talk! Really, one would think having your throat sliced by a splinter would discourage chatter!"

Mito glared back mutinously, which the Naruto clone ignored, instead concentrating on painting the final sealing array. Wiping away the sweat on his brow, he sighed. "I swear, I always pawn this sort of job on me! Well, I suppose it's time."

Running through a series of hand seals, he slammed one hand on Mito's forehead and the other on his own chest, which had a corresponding blood seal inscribed. "**_Sealing Art: Chakra Vampire Seal!"_**

The blood lit up a bright white, then Mito's wounds began to seal shut as the Naruto clone seemed to lose colour, mass flowing down his outstretched hand into Mito. The Naruto clone gave Mito a cheeky grin, opening his mouth to make a final comment, when the earth trembled, accompanied by a giant explosion.

Startled, Mito half sat up in alarm. "What was that?"

The Naruto clone, looking distinctively less solid, wordlessly stared back at her, then doubled over, clutching at his stomach. The world went dark as a pillar of darkness shot up from the Valley of the End, and the Naruto clone yelled out in pain, a glowing light shining from under the remains of his jacket.

Hurrying towards the screaming clone, Mito unceremoniously pulled away his jacket and shirt, baring the seal, which was glowing a sinister orange. Before her startled gaze, the seal pulsed, before the kanji for death superimposed itself on top of the swirl of the original seal in an eerily shining black.

**A.N.**

**_Dance of the Seedling Fern – The user grows a bone forest, into which they can be absorbed, allowing them to pop out from anywhere a bone growth is present._**

**_Human Bullet Tank – User bulks up, then rolls over the opponent, crushing them._**

**_*Spiked Chains: Atomic Separator – The individual links on the chains begin to spin, creating a drill like effect. The chains can then tear through anything in their vicinity, reducing them to shreds._**

**_Kyodaigumo: Amagumo – Summoning technique of Kidomaru, the spider summon's egg sac is split, raining small spiders onto the opponent._**

**_Eight Trigrams: One Hundred and Twenty Eight Palms – Advanced version of Eight Trigrams: Sixty Four Palms, it utilizes 128 strikes._**

**_Whip of Love – Technique unique to the Toads of Mt. Myoboku, the toad extends its tongue to wrap around the opponent, trapping them. _**

**_Genjutsu Kiss – Toad contact Genjutsu technique, specialty of Gamariki. It traps the victim in a world, where all the victim's acquaintances are seen with the user's face._**

**_Goukakyuu no Jutsu – C-Rank – Generic Fireball technique, considered a staple for shinobi of the Uchiha clan._**

**_Katon: Housenka no Jutsu – C-Rank – Creates a volley of small fireballs, whose paths can be controlled and small projectiles hidden inside of. _**

**_Katon: Ryuuka no Jutsu – C-Rank – A stream of flames are breathed along ninja wire, which burn the opponent on contact._**

**_Chidori – A-Rank – A lightning release technique of great power, Chidori collects lightning chakra in the palm, which is then used to stab the opponent. The technique produces a signature sound, like the chirping of birds, when in use._**

**_*Sealing Art: Chakra Vampire Seal – A medical kinjutsu seal, this seal is used to siphon chakra from one source to another. Due to the inability to stop transfer, and the exorbitant chakra capacity needed by the donor to avoid being sucked dry, only an Uzumaki or a shinobi with an equally high chakra capacity, can use the technique without risking immediate death due to chakra exhaustion._**


	9. When Death Comes Knocking

**A.N.**Well, what do you know… I'm still alive! Yay! Now before anybody tries to kill me and remove that oh so sweet sensation of living, I apologize. Please don't kill me?

Ahem. Now that that's over with, and we've unanimously decided to never speak of it again, here's the ninth episode of Tales of the Arcane. This chapter concludes the Sasuke retrieval arc, and sets in motion the events for the next arc. Hints as to its focus have already been given; if you have an idea as to what it might be, let me know!

Tales of the Arcane just crossed 150 reviews! Thank you very much, all of you who reviewed my story!

**A.N.**In order to avoid misunderstandings, I thought of adding this note at the end of my – already rather lengthy- author's note. Naruto will _not _be getting the Sharingan. Don't worry; I have big plans for Sasuke.

_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of its characters. If I did, a duck would not be nesting on poor Sasuke's head._

_Chapter 9 : When Death Comes Knocking_

…

_What you gonna do when things go wrong?  
What you gonna do when it all cracks up?  
What you gonna do when the love burns down?  
What you gonna do when the flames go up?  
Who is gonna come and turn the tide?  
What's it gonna take to make a dream survive?  
Who's got the touch to calm the storm inside?  
Who's gonna save you?_

**_Alive and Kicking – Simple Minds_**

**_"Rasengan!"_**

**_"Chidori!"_**

Rearing back, Sasuke drove his black lightning encrusted fist forward, aiming at Naruto's heart. Naruto's crimson Rasengan came forward to meet it, before the two jutsu met in an ominous crash of lightning and raw chakra. Lightning arced out from the collision, shocking both, before suddenly the Chidori glanced off the Rasengan, and the two jutsu hit home.

Naruto's Rasengan caught Sasuke on the shoulder and it dug into it, grinding past bone and severing the hand from the body. The Chidori however, continued uninterrupted on its path, entering Naruto's body through his chest and exiting though his back, puncturing his heart in the middle.

There was a shocked silence; both looked at each other, not believing what had happened. Then Sasuke fell backwards, the stump of his arm spewing blood, while Naruto crumpled where he stood, Sasuke's disembodied arm still sticking out of his chest.

Sasuke let out an ear piercing scream as he clutched at his ruined shoulder, his curse seal's influence causing the open wound to bubble, even as it continued to spurt blood. Naruto collapsed face down, his weight crushing the arm beneath, Sasuke's fingers poking out between his shoulder blades. Naruto's Kyuubi cloak pulsed, before it contracted into a layer surrounding Naruto, who looked to have lost consciousness.

Black smoke started billowing from Naruto's crumpled figure, before a otherworldly pressure descended on the valley; the roar of the waterfall was suddenly muted, and the pool's water began to recede around him as Naruto began to slowly levitate, carried by the smoke. His hair was flaring behind him as he rose, and the pain-addled eyes of Sasuke stared in disbelief as he struggled to escape the unrelenting pressure in the clearing. With a sickening squelch, Sasuke's arm fell out of Naruto's body, leaving a gaping wound through Naruto's sternum; the destroyed heart was clearly visible. However, no blood was flowing; Naruto seemed to have been frozen in time as he rose higher into the air. Finally, when he was about six feet in the air he stopped rising, instead hovering in the air.

Without any warning whatsoever, Naruto's jacket and shirt disintegrated, showing off his jinchuuriki seal, which glowed an eerie pulsing crimson. Then it seemed to crack; suddenly, the skin surrounding the seal began to turn an ugly blue-grey colour as a miasma of a white gelatinous substance grew in its wake, covering Naruto like a cloak.

When the blue-grey skin reached Naruto's head, his eyes popped open, and he let out a tortured scream as the discoloured skin covered his face. His hair seemingly bleached from the roots outwards while still flared outwards, till his hair was coloured a bone white. His eyes were rolling to the back of his sockets, his eyes coloured a soulless black as they stared unseeingly.

With an ominous scraping noise, as if someone was carving it in, the Kanji for death slowly carved itself over the swirl of the original seal in a pitch black ink that shined eerily. As it finished, Naruto gave a last agonized scream before he hung limp, still in the air. The surroundings seemed pulse; a beam of black burst out from his body, shooting upwards, as large constructs shaped like prayer beads made from the same gelatinous substance covering him burst out from his unconscious form, anchoring him in the air and wrapping around the thrashing Sasuke.

…

He was floating. Sinking. Drowning. There was a hot poker pressing against his stomach, lava flowing up his body scorching his skin. There was something missing from his chest; he couldn't breathe, he couldn't move.

He heard a raw voice screaming in agony, hurting his ears by the volume, before he realized that he was the one screaming; that the screams of agony were coming from his own mouth, but he couldn't stop. So he continued to scream; scream, even as he coughed up blood, even as the act of screaming itself hurt him enough to make him want to scream all over again.

Dimly, he registered a new source of hurt, almost lost within the pains wracking his body; an insistent itch, half pain and half irritation, that grazed his stomach as it traced an unfamiliar pattern on his skin. However he realized quite acutely when it had ended. For as soon as the itch had stopped, a blinding pain had blossomed in his head, the angry pain of an acute migraine making itself felt even beyond the pains of a quite wrecked body.

And then suddenly it was all gone. The sudden lack of pain hit him hard; it was like a sudden sense of vertigo, he felt sick. With a whimper, Naruto curled up on himself.

Slowly, when the shock had faded somewhat, and reason had reasserted itself, Naruto tried to take stock of his surroundings. He was lying on scorched earth, and it seemed as if he had none of the wounds that he had been inflicted with. He was in some sort of building; that much was clear. It was a hall of some sort, with white walls and some sort of throne at one end on an elevated stage, facing a set of well worn cushions, coloured a bone white.

A rumbling chuckle behind him caused him to suddenly turn around, only to come face to face with a monstrous figure. It was humanoid, only it was about fifteen feet tall, and it had blue-grey skin, with a bone-white mane of hair flaring out behind him. Its beady black eyes were staring at Naruto with a look of predatory amusement. Naruto gulped. Whatever was going to happen, Naruto had a feeling it was _not _going to be good for his health.

**"My my, ningen. Aren't you an interesting one?"**

…

Naruto swallowed a lump in his throat. Something told him that acting brashly right now would not be wise; the creature, whatever it was, just had that aura of power that said not to mess with it. Now what had Iruka-sensei told him to do when meeting a possible noble…

The creature chuckled. **"While it is interesting to listen to your thoughts, ****_Uzumaki Naruto_****,"** he emphasized the name, and Naruto swallowed reflexively, **"my time is not without value. I am the Shinigami, and you have been brought here because you have attempted to use my power, and it intrigues me as to how that is possible, especially seeing as I have no contract with you." **

The Shinigami? Oh, damn it all, he was screwed! But how would he have used the power of the Death God? Naruto was not someone who considered himself spiritually enlightened, even though certain knowledge _was _required in sealing, and the only reason he had even _heard _of the particular arcane deity was… Oh. Hell.

The Shinigami suddenly laughed, a booming laugh, echoing throughout the chamber. **"Quite literally, little ningen!" **Still chuckling, he added, **"And of course, the seal! I forgot how I helped that strange blond to seal Kurama…"**

Even in the midst of freaking out over his very possible disintegration at the hands of a deity, Naruto couldn't help but feel a little insulted for his father. _Strange Blond! _It was not as if having an infestation of bone white hair and blue-grey skin were exactly normal!

The Shinigami grunted. **"If you wish to present a good impression, you are failing miserably, ningen. Infestation of hair, indeed!"**

Finally something caught his notice, and Naruto went rigid. "Umm… Shinigami-sama, are you… reading my thoughts?"

**"Obviously." **The Shinigami seemed slightly annoyed that Naruto had even asked, so Naruto supposed that it was considered a right by the Gods. Then again, he was probably listening in to this conversation as well…

**"Of course, ningen. By the way, I said as much at the beginning of this conversation."**

Well, what did you know? It was true! Though he _could _be excused, Naruto thought, as he was still getting over the fact that he was meeting with the _Shinigami_. Oh, he was really going to be screwed if he didn't talk his way out of this, but how?

Looking at the deity, Naruto began to babble. "Um… Shinigami-sama, about using your power… You see, my kekkei genkai allows me to channel any seal in my body… It's just, ah… Your seal got exposed recently when I underwent some changes… I swear I didn't mean to! So since it's not really my fault… I can go now, right?" He winced, waiting for something to happen.

The Shinigami stared at him, a look of intrigue on his face. **"Hmm… What to do," **he pondered aloud, seemingly more for Naruto's benefit than his own. **"What to do, indeed. I suppose it is my fault in a way, putting a seal on you, isn't it, ningen? However, I can't simply let you use my power with impunity; that would just set a bad example. I can't simply remove your seal, not when I was honor bound to make that seal in the first place, so what am I going to do with you?"**

Idly scratching his chin with the dagger that he was grasping in one hand, the Shinigami stared at Naruto ponderingly, while Naruto did his best to blend into the ground. Then he smirked. Naruto repressed his flinch; he didn't want to appear intimidated in front of the deity, even though it probably knew it already. **"Well, why not? It should be interesting to see, if nothing else…"**

Suddenly the Shinigami was in front of Naruto, staring into his eyes with a serious gaze. **"Well, ningen, I've decided to let you go for ****_this particular _****offense." **Naruto's sigh was audible, but the smirk on the face of the deity soon had Naruto freezing in fear; what sort of trap was the deity weaving? With a leisurely wave of his spindly arm, the Shinigami continued, **"other than, of course, the natural consequence of channeling my power in a human body, but you expected that already, didn't you?"**

Naruto nervously cleared his throat, before addressing the Shinigami, who was squatting in front of him, peering into his face with a disturbing grin on his face. "Excuse me, Shinigami-sama, but exactly what consequences?"

The Shinigami gave a careless shrug. **"Oh, that's nothing! It's just that my power strains your life force when a mortal such as you uses it… I'll say you'll lose about five year's life force for this stunt, but then, sealing such a large soul is no easy task, is it?"**

Five year of his life! Though he supposed it wasn't much, and he _was _a ninja from a clan said to have an average life expectancy of two hundred years, in a profession with an average life expectancy of thirty. So perhaps the fact that those extra years could end up helping him, instead of just getting wasted, was a good thing? However…

"Shinigami-sama, what did you mean seal a soul?"

A chuckle was the only reply he received, before he felt a sudden pulling sensation. Looking down, he could see his wounds, trophies of his recent battles, appear on his body accompanied with an ever unwelcome sensation of pain. That was a shame; he really had enjoyed not feeling like his organs were liquefying on him. Then he was getting more insubstantial, and the surroundings were getting darker. The last thing he saw before darkness enveloped him was the Shinigami's face peering into his own, an oddly proud look on his face. Then everything was gone, leaving him alone with the pain, and the last words of the Shinigami echoing in his mind.

**"It's time for you go back, ningen, and remember this, everything has consequences."**

…

Power flooded Mito's body as the clone suddenly dispersed. It was a heady feeling, the replenishing of the pitiful chakra reserves of her chakra shell overflowing and leaving a tingly sensation in her body; however she would not, could not, waste any time to enjoy the sensations.

The agonized expression on the clone's face just prior to its dispersal had stuck with her, as well as the kanji that had appeared over the **_Shiki Fujin;_** it was rather obvious that her worst fears had come to pass. Naruto had accessed the Shinigami's seal, actually channeled the power of a God; it was something that every fuinjutsu user had nightmares about.

What Naruto had done was certainly not unique. No, channeling the power of various arcane deities was an integral part of fuinjutsu, but there was a difference between channeling the power through entreating to the higher powers, and manipulating the power of the deities themselves; one that many ancient fuinjutsu pioneers had found, to their horror. 'Stealing from a deity' was a sure fire way to attract their wrath, and many childhood fables Mito had heard during her childhood had included those men who had tried to steal the power of a god, and what befell them. Still, perhaps the fact that he had not _intended _to use a god's power would keep him alive; that was the only sliver of hope that Mito had, as she raced towards Naruto.

Not caring of her own still sizzling wounds, she made her way out of the forest to the Valley of the End. Leaping on top of the statue of her deceased husband, Mito paused in shock.

What was in front of her was a wasteland; that much was obvious. The battle cratered ground, which had already seen one of the most destructive fights in shinobi history, was pockmarked and littered with brand new craters from the latest conflict. The statues, both of her husband and of Madara, were crumbling from the repeated impacts they had received; Mito noticed, with an irrational burst of pride, that most had been caused by Naruto's chains, judging from the gouges in the stonework.

Within this scene of raw destruction however, there was an extremely unnatural phenomenon in action. Near the foot of the Madara statue, there was an area of the pool from which the water had receded in a neat circle, exposing the wet stone bottom, a severed and bleeding arm resting on it. And at its epicenter, floating around three metres above water level, was a transformed Naruto who looked to be quite unconscious. His bone white hair was flaring behind him, and his blue-grey pigmented skin emphasized the crimson glowing seal on his abdomen as he floated in place.

A chakra construct resembling a set of praying beads had erupted from the centre of the seal to wrap around a feebly struggling Sasuke. Even as she leapt down off the statue, she could see the prayer bead structures pulsing sinisterly as they tightened further, trapping Sasuke within them. The beads then began to emit a violent white glow, before the beads separated from the body, hovering in the air with a screaming wraith of Sasuke which had separated from the material body held between them.

Mito approached as close as she dared, but being merely a chakra construct herself she couldn't risk getting closer; not without risking destabilization. While she may have made her body rather durable she had not expected her body to be exposed to divine power, and she instinctively knew that her body would come off worse in that particular exchange. Therefore she was stuck, powerless, until whatever happened with the seal subsided and she could reach Naruto, who looked to have reached well past the point of almost dead already.

Finally, with a sigh of displaced air, the wraithlike Sasuke was completely absorbed into the prayer beads which then floated back to the airborne Naruto, sunk into his body, and disappeared. Sasuke flopped lifelessly to the ground, a complex seal forming on his stomach. The curse seal flared a final time, before it dispersed with an audible crack, leaving Sasuke's still body lying on the stone feet of his ancestor's statue.

Meanwhile, Mito was trying to restrain herself from running forward when Naruto's eyes snapped open, even as Naruto's hair and skin began to turn back to their original shades. However, despite the hole in his chest _finally _sealing over as the Kyuubi chakra asserted itself, Naruto was steadily losing colour; an unhealthy pallor visible in his face making the whisker marks stand out. By the time he floated down, slowly landing on the water that had come rushing back; his hair was bleaching again and his skin turning flaky from ill health. Across the **_Shiki Fujin_**, surrounding the spiral seal and the 'death' kanji, three tomoe materialized. An outline of the Sharingan briefly manifested in Naruto's pitch black eyes, before the design shattered and revealed normal blue; with a moan, Naruto slumped as he slipped back into unconsciousness.

Shaking herself out of her stupor, Mito started towards Naruto, before she was roughly pushed out of the way as a blonde and green blur sped past her. A second later, Tsunade's entourage flew past her as the Hokage's panicked cry was heard.

"_Naruto!"_

…

'Well, this is just perfect', Shikamaru thought sarcastically as lured Tayuya back into the trees, hoping to ensnare her in his shadow. Now it was getting simply ridiculous. Even after taking a chakra pill his chakra levels were just above exhaustion, and combined with the physical fatigue caused by the strange jutsu that her summons had used, he was ready to collapse. It was not that Tayuya did not get caught; while quite analytical, Shikamaru had managed to catch her in a trap quite a few times. However, each time she had been in actual danger, she would just break out of the trap with her ridiculous strength, forcing him back on the defensive.

As she pursued him into a grove in the woods, Shikamaru set his jaw as he prepared for the final part of the trap; in stark contrast to his other traps Shikamaru had, due to necessity, gone for the kill this time.

Shikamaru, like many of the other 'rookie nine', had not killed until now. The only ones he knew to have killed were Shino, Kiba and Ino. However unlike the others it was not by accident, shielding by his sensei, or even a dislike for killing that kept Shikamaru from killing his opponents; he had a much more unimpressive reason for that. He simply didn't want to be forced into the counseling that every shinobi had to undergo after their first kill, especially since he would probably be appointed to Ino's dad who was the only person other than Ino and his mother that terrified him. Now, thanks to the Uchiha, he would have to sit for hours he could spend cloud watching inside the stuffy Yamanaka home, listening to Ino's dad go on and on about his feelings about killing while staring unblinkingly at him. Or he would die, at the hands of a girl no less. Neither option really appealed to him; why did they make him a chunin anyway? All this was just troublesome.

Kneeling in the shadow of a giant tree trunk, Shikamaru sighed mournfully as he slowly weaved through the hand seals for one of the shadow manipulation jutsu unique to his clan. Tayuya was slowly advancing, taunting him as she entered the grove opposite the tree he was hiding behind.

The grove in question was ringed by six equally massive trees forming a hexagon, their treetops forming enormous shadows under them. From the direction facing Tayuya as she entered the clearing, each of the trees looked perfectly normal, if rather abnormally large. In the direction facing away from the grove however, each tree had a sizzling seal tag placed at knee height.

It was time. As Shikamaru finished his hand seal sequence, holding his hands in the 'rat' seal, his shadow merged with the tree in front of it, before a tendril of shadow sneaked out on either side to merge with the next tree in the circle. Soon the shadows had formed a ring around the grove containing Tayuya; just as he had planned. The flare tags were bound to detonate any second now, which was when his biggest gamble to date.

The jutsu he was attempting to use was traditionally done with kunai, and needed a far larger amount of chakra; one of the few true finishing moves in a Nara's arsenal. His grasp of the technique was fairly elementary though, which was why he was relying on the trees, which was a far larger and more stable shadow anchor than a thrown kunai. He was also relying on the flare tags he had attached to the other side of the trees to help channel the shadows in a fairly linear path, for existing shadow movements lessened chakra requirement and he was pretty sure he would have come up short on chakra otherwise.

Finally, Tayuya reached the very centre of the grove just as the flare tags detonated, throwing six enormous shadows of the trees into Tayuya. Shikamaru grinned viciously as he ran through two more seals before holding his hand in the 'rat' seal again. **_"Shadow Cage Skewering!"_**

On hearing his voice, Tayuya immediately tried to jump away, but she found herself immobilized as the first part of Shikamaru's jutsu activated, the shadows that the flares cast on her immobilizing and wrapping around her body. Even as Tayuya was getting bound by the trees' shadows, the lines connecting the trees and the shadows on the ground bubbled sinisterly. With a sharp sound, thin skewers formed out of the shadow before they lanced into the trapped kunoichi, piercing her from every direction as they grew through her in a split second.

With a muted sound, the shadows dissipated as Shikamaru ran out of chakra to maintain the jutsu. Stumbling out from behind the tree, he found himself staring into Tayuya's eyes as she looked back at him, an expression of abject shock etched on her frozen features. She looked strangely unharmed, and for a split second Shikamaru descended into a mild panic, thinking she had survived, when she swayed unsteadily before she toppled over in a heap.

Shikamaru could feel the onset of chakra exhaustion coming on, clouding his thoughts as his head grew increasingly heavy. However his gaze refused to move from the crumpled figure in front of him as he stood staring at Tayuya, observing everything from the dark skin and pink hair of her cursed seal form, to the extremely small wounds peppering her figure, slowly leaking rivulets of blood now escaping her still body. His eyes were fixed on the glazed eyes of his first kill staring back at him, even as he finally collapsed to his knees, the combination of exhaustion and chakra exhaustion taking their toll on him. Then his legs gave out completely and he was lying on the ground next to Tayuya, staring at her wrist which was adorned with a white tattoo of a spiral with its end flaring out that was standing out starkly on her dark skin. He could have sworn he had seen it somewhere before, but it was getting strangely tiring to think. A nap sounded good right about now…

Thus it was that a rather bedraggled looking Neji emerged from the forest, having had Gamariki dispel some time ago, to find Shikamaru lying on the ground. Grumbling under his breath, Neji proceeded to hoist the unconscious genius over his shoulder, before leaving the clearing to search for the rest of his scattered team. On the ground, the white tattoo on Tayuya's wrist suddenly lit up before fading into nothingness, unnoticed by Neji as he hurried to the other's aid.

A few miles away, a specter of a long dead woman suddenly looked in Tayuya's direction, a puzzled look on her face, before she turned back to hovering over a still body lying near a waterfall, a puzzled frown on her face.

On the forest floor, Tayuya's body cooled, glazed eyes staring up at the canopy above.

…

Tenten cursed fluently as she jumped back, holding onto her side which was leaking blood from a claw swipe that had gotten lucky. She really should have known better, she thought to herself angrily. Even armed with kunai and as gifted as she was with weapons, you did not enter into a close range battle with an Inuzuka and expect to get away unscathed. Though it wasn't exactly an Inuzuka she was facing.

From what she had noticed, the attack of the strange sound shinobi worked quite similarly to the Yamanaka mind techniques, minus the interrogation abilities. It was also quite different in its own way, being much more physical than the Yamanaka counterpart. Therefore what she was now facing was the same skilled shinobi as earlier, only he was in possession of the animalistic body of Kiba, thus she was forced on the defensive, unable to attack due to the fact that the person attacking her was doing so using her teammate's body. It didn't help that he seemed to have more skill with kunai than even she had.

Cursing under her breath, Tenten reached behind her for one of the many weapon scrolls she carried. With a quick twist of her wrist and a puff of smoke, the weapon in the scroll unsealed and she caught it easily.

Ukon grinned at her in amusement. "A Johyou? You're really going to fight me with a Johyou? What are you, a Suna puppeteer?"

Tenten started to twirl the leaden weight around her, slowly building up momentum. "This is all I need to bring you down, bastard."

Ukon's mouth twitched as he settled into a stance, the constant twitching in a few limbs indicating that Kiba was still fighting for control. However Tenten didn't hold out much hope for him driving the Sound shinobi out without help; the Inuzuka had been quite low on chakra after his combination transformation.

A sudden rustling in the bushes distracted both from their stare off, and as they twisted around to identify the new threat, a salvo of kunai flew towards the Ukon-possessed Kiba. Even as he ducked under the kunai and leapt into the stream, a set of blurs exited the forest to surround Tenten. Tenten instinctively drew a kunai, before she looked into the faces of those who had surrounded her.

"Kakashi-san, Shizune-san! What are you doing here?"

…

"Orochimaru-sama, are you all right?" The young, soft voice of the bespectacled silver haired boy was laced with worry. However when the one addressed, a tall thin man wrapped in bandages, turned towards him, he instinctively straightened up, knowing that Orochimaru's rage was not to be taken slightly.

After a moment, Orochimaru spoke, his voice a sibilant hiss. Ponderous and high pitched, the voice was one that naturally inspired terror. However, it was evident that it was not something he consciously maintained; the man's very presence simply exuded a saturated killing intent in such volume that it was hard to think of the man without it. "Silence, Kabuto. I shall rest. The body transfer is more tiring than I care to feel."

With that, Orochimaru slowly lifted himself off of his chair, staggering upright with an obvious effort. Even then he staggered tiredly. Kabuto immediately rushed to his side, only to be roughly dissuaded from coming near. "I can take care of myself, Kabuto."

Orochimaru's voice carried the slightest hint of threat in it, making Kabuto hastily backtrack. "Of course, Orochimaru-sama."

Orochimaru turned round and slowly walked towards the open doorway, only to be halted by Kabuto again. "Orochimaru-sama… What are you going to do about Uchiha Sasuke and the Sound Four?"

For a moment, there was silence. Then Orochimaru gave a dismissive shrug, resuming his walk as his words floated back to Kabuto accompanied by an amused chuckle.

"Sasuke-kun has three years to get here, Kabuto-kun. If you want, go pick him up. As for the Sound Four…" He nonchalantly waved his hand as he stepped through the doorway, his whispered answer barely reaching Kabuto.

"Haven't you been asking for some test subjects?"

…

"He's got extreme chakra exhaustion, he's going into shock!"

"Steady, steady!"

"Rabbit, give me the Hyorogan!"

"H-H-Hyorogan, Hokage-sama? But his body…"

"He's an Uzumaki, he can handle it!"

Tsunade and one of her ANBU were leaning over the limp and bloodied form of Naruto, while Mito hovered behind them. A few feet away, Asuma was lazily smoking a cigarette as he looked on as the Hokage frantically tried to treat Naruto, when a polite cough caught his attention. Looking up, he found himself looking into ghoulish black eyes peering at him through the slits in an ANBU mask, mere inches from his face.

"Aaah!" With a yell, Asuma stumbled back, cigarette falling from his lips, only to find the ANBU in question looking at him quizzically. Panting slightly, Asuma looked at the ANBU, bug eyed from shock. "Don't _do _that!"

The ANBU tilted his head slightly, before speaking in a monotone. "Do what?"

"That!" This ANBU was a strange one, Asuma decided, now decidedly more interested in the somewhat _unique _specimen before him. Usually ANBU operated under the premise of being unseen and unheard; for a member of one of the most reclusive shinobi units to actually initiate conversation was decidedly strange. Looking more carefully at the ANBU in question, Asuma found him to be even more eccentric than what his introduction had made him out to be. For one, Asuma could make out a decidedly odd forehead protector protruding from under his cat mask which seemed to cover his jaw line in a parody of the signature protector of the Second. Also, his unblinking stare was somewhat unnerving.

"I'm afraid I don't understand you, Asuma-sempai."

Asuma sighed. "Never mind." This guy was definitely strange, but being in the ANBU did strange things to people, and this guy didn't seem to be _that _bad. After all, he could have turned out like Kakashi. Asuma shuddered at that thought; he liked Kakashi, he really did, but he didn't think Konoha could survive two of the eccentric shinobi.

The ANBU cleared his throat. "Asuma-sempai, why didn't you go with Kakashi-sempai? I thought your genin were in the group?" He seemed honestly inquisitive. Asuma hesitated, before shrugging and deciding to answer; after all, it wasn't as if it was some big secret.

Leaning into the stone statue and lighting up another cigarette, he slowly started to explain. "That's because I know what they're up to, and anyway, I wouldn't want to add an emotional component to the mission. Besides, Shizune needed just one more ninja and I had a feeling Kakashi didn't need to see what had happened here." He looked at the bloodied ground, to the bloodless face of Naruto as Tsunade fussed over him and added under his breath, "And I was right."

The ANBU tilted his head inquisitively. "You know what they're up to?"

Asuma smirked around his cigarette, looking at the sky. "It's a tradition for the Ino-Shika-Cho teams in Konoha," he explained, "the latest team gets a set of seal engraved ear-rings, an old heirloom of the clans, which use the Yamanaka's powers to psychically connect all members of the team, plus their sensei."

"What do they do?"

"It's for increasing teamwork within the teams, and it's a fairly drastic step. Once you initiate the bond, it takes a long time to wean off of it, but that is not even the true danger. Once you put on the artifacts, there are literally no secrets within the team; it bares your innermost thoughts to each other." Asuma chuckled. "As you can imagine, it causes some quite amusing scenarios. Thank goodness the bond with the sensei is much weaker than the ones between the team; I can only feel their general health."

The ANBU stared at him. Asuma, feeling the intense stare, looked down, before he sweatdropped. "You really have no idea of human behaviour, do you?" He muttered, before continuing with a wry grin. "Let's just say it was quite some time before Shikamaru or Chouji could look at Sasuke without retching."

"Ah." The ANBU spoke, before he held up his hand in the classic inquisitive posture. "I… do not understand."

Asuma sweatdropped. "Um… Never mind," he said awkwardly. "So anyway, Shika's gone and knocked himself out but he's stable, and from the chakra levels Chouji-kun has barely fought at all, so they're all right. Besides the forest is now crawling with Konoha ninja." Sparing a glance at Naruto, he continued more somberly, "and it isn't as if the enemy has many shinobi alive now."

The ANBU nodded slightly, before speaking. His voice, Asuma noticed, was a very carefully structured monotone that revealed no tells to his inner thoughts. That, in itself was a tell, however, as it told Asuma that this was a veteran ANBU, who had probably served on the force for quite some time. It was a subtle sign, but it was fairly easy to identify if you knew what to look for. Only a few operatives, such as Kakashi and Orochimaru, who had surpassed the veteran stage to legend, had ever truly managed to insert false emotional tells into conversation. Suddenly, the ANBU was even more interesting than before.

"Uzumaki-san has indeed been quite effective."

Asuma snorted. "Effective? The boy simply tore the enemy apart! I swear, I haven't seen carnage like that since Gai went on one of his 'youthful' rampages in his wild days."

Lost in his reminiscing, Asuma was brought back by the frantic waving of the ANBU. He blithely ignored the ridiculous sight of an ANBU acting like a schoolgirl; it was a skill you tended to pick up when hanging around the likes of Kakashi… or Gai… or Anko… or Genma… or Raido... or Ibiki…

Asuma sweatdropped. Maybe it was time to find some friends that _weren't _insane?

Shaking his head, he looked at the panicking ANBU. "What?"

The ANBU leaned towards him conspiringly, before whispering in a terrified whisper. "Don't say the name."

Huh?

At Asuma's dumbfounded look, the ANBU started to explain hurriedly. "The beast! The green beast! Don't say the name… _it will come."_

Asuma stared at the panicking ANBU incredulously. Was the ANBU scared of _Gai? _Laughing under his breath, he was mocking the increasingly paranoid ANBU, who was jumping at every rustling leaf, when he detected an enormous chakra signature at the edge of his perception.

Immediately his chakra blades were out and blazing with wind chakra, and wooden beams peeked out of the arm guards of the ANBU – Mokuton? Asuma filed that away for later. Could it be that he had talked with the elusive Mokuton no Tenzo? – as they turned towards the chakra signature blazing towards them from the forest. Interestingly though, it was heading towards them _from _Konoha's direction.

"Tsunade-sama?" Asuma called out.

The Hokage grunted irritably, still working on the comatose patient lying below. Looking up briefly, she wiped sweat from her brow as she looked at Asuma seriously. "I need at least two minutes more to stabilize Naruto. Hold them off, whoever they are; I don't want them anywhere near here before the two minutes are up."

The ANBU looked at Asuma. Asuma nodded back, the wind chakra coating around his chakra blades flaring, as they settled into stances waiting for the unknown chakra signature to appear. The chakra was getting closer, and Asuma tensed, when a green blur burst out of the forest. Ducking the wood beams heading at him from the ANBU, the green blur skidded to a halt a few feet in front of Asuma. The ANBU yelped.

"Tsunade-sama, I bring most unyouthful news!" a boisterous voice exclaimed, before the source turned to stare at the horrified ANBU. "ANBU-san, that was very unyouthful," he said reproachfully, "perhaps I could interest you in a youthful spar later, to reignite your flames of youth?"

Asuma's eyebrows twitched, even as the ANBU gave him a wounded glare before skulking off to hide behind Tsunade. "Gai… What are you doing here?"

…

Ukon-Kiba stared at the newcomers critically. "So the _great _Jounin of Konoha arrives," he snarked, before he smirked. "But if I were you, I wouldn't try to harm me. Well, if you don't want to kill your friend too."

Kakashi slowly pushed up his forehead protector, uncovering his Sharingan. He stared at the possessed shinobi, before a small smirk of his own crept across his face.

"A Kiseichuu. It's been quite some time since I've seen one of you; in fact, the last time I saw you was in the Third war." His smirk grew as he continued, while Ukon looked shocked. "Last I heard your clan was wiped out by Iwa. Though that does tend to happen when a clan is as weak as yours."

"Shut up before I kill you all!" Ukon growled at the jounin, who ignored him totally, instead turning to Shizune. "Shizune-san, think you can handle it?"

Shizune turned to look at Kakashi, looking rather insulted. "Think I can handle it?" A small grin, totally unlike her usual timid personality blooming on her face, she turned to Ukon who was staring at her, irritated. With a slight hum of medical chakra her hand lit up with a chakra scalpel. "Remember, Kakashi-_kun_, I'm an apprentice of a sannin, just like your sensei."

"And as for you, your clan techniques didn't work against your main enemies mainly because Iwa just cut their losses and killed their own with your clan," she added, looking at Ukon.

Ukon snorted. "You Konoha bastards are too soft for that," he scoffed, "so what are you going to do, woman!"

"This," Shizune said softly. There was a sound of displaced air, and before Ukon could even blink Shizune had appeared in front of him, chakra scalpel blazing as it tore through his chest leaving behind no visible wound. Before Ukon could even think to counterattack she had ghosted back to her original position, watching him expectedly.

Ukon flailed around in surprise for a moment before regaining his balance. "You missed," he stated, looking somewhat shocked, but he soon regained his superior sneer. "I don't know how you did it, but you won't do it again!"

Kakashi snorted as Shizune deactivated her chakra scalpel and relaxed. "Nope. The fight's already over," he stated blandly.

"Wha…" Ukon's retort was cut off mid stream as he keeled over, vomiting blood on the ground.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhh!"

Yelling in agony, Ukon-Kiba's body began to bubble, before Ukon's body began to gradually emerge from Kiba's, both screaming in agony when they weren't coughing up blood. Shizune looked on clinically, as if it was nothing more than a cadaver in one of her master's experiments.

Finally, after Ukon had totally separated from Kiba, Ukon's host immediately falling limp as Shizune nonchalantly approached the pair. Ukon stared hatefully at her. "W-What d-did you do to me?" He demanded between his hoarse coughing.

Shizune looked at him, face devoid of compassion as she crouched in front of the unconscious Kiba. Her hands lighting up again, this time a gentle green instead of the harsh white it had been before. "I cut up the lining of your lungs and nicked an artery," she explained unsympathetically. "Even now your lungs are filling with fluid. Soon you will find it hard to breath, and then you will drown in your own blood."

"You…" Whatever Ukon had tried to say was lost as he succumbed to another fit of coughing, blood now leaking from his nostrils as he curled around himself.

Tenten shuddered, shocked at Shizune's cruelty, before she jumped in surprise as Shizune looked straight at her. "Remember this lesson, Tenten-san. This is what happens when someone is overly reliant on one skill – Any skill can always be countered."

Tenten nodded weakly. Suddenly Kiba came to with a gasp, coughing up blood. Shaking his head, he looked around, noticing Shizune who was still crouched over him employing the mystical palm technique. "Th-Thanks Shizune-san!"

Shizune gave him a somewhat strained smile. "It was a close call. Now we have to go. Tsunade-sama may need my help."

**A.N.**

**_Johyou – Weapon with leaded weight and rope, used by Matsuri in canon._**

**_Hyorogan - Chakra replenishing drug_**


	10. Homeward Bound

**A.N. **Whew. That was tiring. And now, here's the tenth (Yay!) episode of Tales of the Arcane. Fair warning, Tsunade goes mad. If you can believe it, she much worse in the original script. I did try to make her come across as not all there, but I'm still not sure whether I overdid it. Please let me know!

Sorry for the rather slow update speeds in the last few chapters. I've been getting rather busy with my job. I know it's all sorts of annoying, but I will probably get better soon.

Also, thanks go to all who reviewed my story, even those who had less than flattering things to say. As long as the review is done fairly, I accept any and all criticism.

Please review!

_Chapter 10 : Homeward bound_

…

_Rising up, back on the street  
Did my time, took my chances  
Went the distance, now I'm back on my feet  
Just a man and his will to survive_

**_Eye of the Tiger– Survivor_**

…

Asuma's eyebrow twitched. "Gai… What are you doing here?"

Gai stood at attention. "I have a most unyouthful message for Tsunade-sama!" He repeated. Asuma, wincing at the tone of the exuberant jounin, groaned pathetically. "What is it?"

Gai's reply was cut off as Tsunade sat up, before a punch slammed across Gai's face tossing him 20 feet away and into a tree.

"Gai! What have I told you about shouting when I'm working?" Tsunade seethed, a malevolent aura surrounding her. Asuma gulped; if Gai didn't have a good excuse, it seemed probable that the great Green Beast was going to be skinned by a demonic Senju.

Gai groaned from where he was, slumped in the middle of an explosion of wooden splinters. "Umm… Not to?" He squeaked, staring as Tsunade approached him, her fists erupting chakra.

She was just a few steps from Gai, who was trying to shrink into himself like he was one of his summons, when a voice called out to her, startling Asuma and the ANBU. "That's quite enough, Tsu-Tsu. We don't have time for one of your temper tantrums – Not when Naruto-kun needs immediate medical help, you know!"

Asuma, the ANBU, and Gai all looked in the direction of the voice. At first, there was nothing; then, gradually, a misty form appeared, coalescing to form the figure of a petite woman in formal dress. And she didn't seem to be happy with the lot of them.

Tsunade's shoulders slumped. "Sorry… Grandmother," she sighed, her hair falling over her eyes as she turned back. "It's just…"

"W-What! T-Tsunade-sama…" Asuma interrupted, swiveling to look between Tsunade and the wraith. "Y-Your Grandmother? H-How?"

Tsunade's shoulders slumped further as she gave a tired sigh, her hand going to the bridge of her nose as she tried to stave off her headache. "I'm not in the mood for this," she groaned, before she gave Mito an evil look. "If you had to appear right now, you can take care of the introductions," she huffed as she stalked back to where Naruto was and began healing him once more.

Eyeing the ANBU and the jounin that were watching her with obvious curiosity, Mito turned towards them, smiling gently. "Hello. I'm Mito Senju nee Uzumaki, Wife of the Shodaime Hokage and the First Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi. Nice to meet you."

Behind her, Tsunade facepalmed, as the jaws of the assembled jounin dropped simultaneously. "Grandmother," she groaned, "I didn't tell you to confuse them even more!"

Mito blinked, then blinked again. "I don't know what you mean."

Tsunade groaned, the medical chakra in her hands flickering out as she finished Naruto's treatment. "Of course you don't."

Briefly looking at Gai, who cringed, she continued with a long suffering sigh. "Now Gai, if you don't want to get punched back to Konoha, just tell us the message you brought." For a moment her eyes seemed to drill through Gai with her glare. "_Without _any mention of youth, if you know what's good for you."

Gai gulped. "Ah… Yes, Tsunade-sama," he paused, cringing, before continuing hesitantly. "Shimura Danzo-sama has declared war against Suna with the aid of the council."

A shocked silence descended on the group, only broken by a stifled yelp by the Rabbit ANBU. Asuma's chakra blades hung limp from his fingers as he gaped at the green suited jounin in thinly suppressed horror. While the jounin and Mito looked between Gai and Tsunade apprehensively, Tsunade had gone very still.

The silence was broken by the sound of gritting teeth from an expressionless Tsunade. For a moment, everybody looked at her, expecting some indication of anger. Instead, she got up almost robotically, before giving Gai a blank stare. "How did Danzo get it through? In the absence of the sitting Hokage such decisions have to be taken in council with the Civilian elders, the Hokage Advisors and the Division commanders!" Her voice was low, almost nonchalant, except for the sliver of venom that crept into the voice when she mentioned Danzo. Collectively, all the assembled jounin had a similar thought; it would _not _be fun to be Danzo when Tsunade next met him.

Gai swallowed; somehow the calm Tsunade was more terrifying than an enraged one. "Um… Hokage-sama, the unyou-"

Faced with Tsunade's gimlet eye, Gai quickly bit back the rest of the word. "Ah… Sorry, Hokage-sama. Danzo-sama has exposed Sabaku no Gaara's status as a jinchuuriki, and is using Naruto-san's… unfortunate circumstances? To rally support for the movement."

At that, Tsunade went, if possible, even more still. Faint wisps of chakra arcing around her form, she looked into Gai's eyes, her own burning with the promise of retribution. "What?" Her voice was scarcely louder than a whisper, but the words, uttered whip-like by the enraged Hokage, nevertheless reached each person there.

For a moment, even Mito flinched at the sheer venom in Tsunade's tone, before she turned towards her granddaughter. "Now is not the time, Tsunade-chan."

Tsunade turned to look at her, her eyes blazing, before she paused at the way Mito had addressed her. "What do you mean now's not the time?" She asked tiredly.

Ignoring her, Mito walked past her to where Naruto was lying, before she bent down and hefted Naruto onto her shoulder in a fireman's carry. "I don't know about you, but I'm not about to bring an injured child, not to mention my heir, to the village when Danzo seems to be building up a mob to lynch him."

Tsunade seemed to deflate, all the anger draining out of her at the realization. "That's true, but where are you going to take him? He needs to rest and recuperate – The drain to his life energy is no joke, Grandmother, he could fall into a coma any moment now."

Mito turned towards her, giving Tsunade a wan smile. "Granddaughter, you are forgetting he's an Uzumaki, you know. Besides, I was thinking, Tsu-Tsu, it's time for him to visit his roots."

Tsunade stared at her. "Grandmother, you don't mean – I mean, that's a ruin – Surely you don't-"

Mito's lips twitched. "You're babbling, Tsu-Tsu. Besides, not all of it is ruins, you know."

Tsunade glared at her. Mito smirked back at her challengingly.

"Have it your way, Grandmother," Tsunade said resignedly after a moment. Mito nodded, all frivolity gone, as she turned to leave. However, she immediately jumped away as Asuma shunshined in front of her, chakra blades blazing.

"Hokage-sama?" He called out, staring suspiciously at Mito. Tsunade frowned. "Stand down, Asuma," she said tiredly.

"But Hokage-sama, you can't let a non-Konoha shinobi take Konoha's jinchuuriki!" He argued, not taking his eyes off Mito's tense form.

Tsunade scowled back at him, making him flinch back. "Asuma…" She drawled, irritation obvious in her tone, "I _told her_ to take Naruto, _removing_ one of _our_ _shinobi_ from a potentially volatile situation." Her eyes narrowed dangerously. "So what is it, Asuma? Do I have to explain every decision I make, or are you refusing orders from your Hokage?"

Asuma stuttered. "Ah…I'm sorry, Tsunade-sama." He said after a moment, chastised. Tsunade sighed again, covering her eyes.

"I'm sorry too, Asuma," she mumbled, "It's just…"

"I understand Hokage-sama." Asuma interrupted her, and Tsunade gave him an unsteady smile.

"Thanks."

Mito scoffed at Asuma, before calling out to Tsunade as she walked past him. "I assume you can take care of the Danzo issue on your own?"

"Don't worry, Grandmother. I'm going to make the bastard _suffer_," she said menacingly, a bloodthirsty smirk creeping across her face. "By the way, I'll send Shizune along later; that brat needs a medic to look after him, at least for the next few days."

"Fine. I have to go now if I want to reach my destination before tomorrow." With a nod of assent and the slight noise of a shunshin, Mito disappeared in a flash of smoke.

…

Being unconscious was troublesome. Waking up was more so.

Nara Shikamaru groaned as he slowly came to from his impromptu nap on the forest floor.

From what he felt, he was being carried piggyback by a shinobi. He could feel the starchy hardness of a Konoha standard flak jacket digging uncomfortably into his ribs and the smell of smoke emanating from the figure carrying him. While many shinobi smoked intermittently to steady their nerves, it was generally considered bad form to smoke so much that the smell clung to them, seeing as it was a possible means of tracking the shinobi. There were only two shinobi he knew that smoked so regularly that the smell clung to their clothes, and one of them, the Sandaime Hokage, was dead. So it was Asuma-sensei carrying him; that was interesting.

Giving up the half-formed plans of pretending to be asleep – it wouldn't matter anyway, what with the thrice-damned earrings – Shikamaru cautiously opened his eyes and peeked over the shoulder of Asuma. Then he heard a low chuckle.

"So. Finally decided to stop pretending to be asleep, Shika-kun?" Asuma asked, giving him an amused grin.

"Sensei. Troublesome." Shikamaru greeted his teacher with a sigh, looking over his shoulder at the group of ninja around him. The Hokage was travelling at the head of the group, and judging by her pursed lips and rigid posture, she didn't seem pleased by the turn of events. Surrounding her was a contingent of ANBU, and at their rear was a severely depressed looking Hatake Kakashi. Not that others could tell, Shikamaru thought, the only thing different was that the eccentric jounin's eyes were droopy and his hands hung rather limply, as if he was forcing himself to walk. At first glance it looked like the man was just sleepy. Gamboling – that was the only word Shikamaru could come up with – around the depressed jounin was a hyper man in a green leotard. So that was Maito Gai, the Sensei of team 9. That was interesting.

Behind him, Chouji, who looked relatively unharmed, was carrying a very battered and bloodied Kiba, whose head was flopping listlessly behind him, clearly unconscious. Neji was behind them, looking somewhat battered as well though he was trying to hide the fact under all the layers of aloof indifference he had around him. He was supporting an exhausted Tenten, who seemed to be favoring her left side. She was also hugging the limp form of Akamaru, whose white fur was matted with blood. Looking around, he noticed a quite obvious absence.

"Sensei, where is Naruto?" Shikamaru asked quietly, a pool of apprehension seeping through him.

He couldn't be dead; Shikamaru refused to believe that. The blond genin might not be the best fighter around, but his instincts and endurance were unmatched in their generation. In a true life and death situation, especially against a weaker opponent than what he had faced, Naruto would simply outlast his opponent until he won.

Several of the group looked up at the question; from what he observed, none of the genin knew what had happened to Naruto judging by their worried expressions. In stark contrast, all the jounin tensed. In front of the group, Tsunade-sama was clenching her fists while Kakashi seemed to be even more depressed at the question.

For a moment, no one answered. Then Tsunade sighed. "Genin Uzumaki has been transported to a safe house after his fight with Uchiha Sasuke due to instability in the current political climate of Konoha." She said shortly, her fists curling on themselves in her ire. It was obvious that it was not something she enjoyed doing.

Whatever answer Shikamaru had expected, that was not it. Shikamaru stiffened in surprise, his mind whirring, trying to make sense of the Hokage's cryptic words. Fight with Sasuke? Naruto should have been already in Konoha by now, not fighting Sasuke! But perhaps he was being naïve. Knowing Naruto as he did, he knew that he would have rushed into battle again as soon as he finished his current opponent. But that brought a set of questions of their own. He had estimated that Naruto would be able to barely beat the large Sound Four member, but to defeat him and then go on to fight Sasuke as well meant that Shikamaru had drastically underestimated the skill of the once blond redhead. And what did the Hokage mean 'current political climate'? That could only mean that the Hokage suspected that Naruto would be in danger inside the village, and the only reason for that at this particular moment…

"Hokage-sama, did Naruto kill Sasuke?" Shikamaru asked warily, as the genin behind him gasped at the question.

Tsunade stopped in place, forcing her entourage to stop as well, before she turned to stare at Shikamaru. Shikamaru held her gaze unflinchingly; he needed to know what went on in his squad, he was responsible for them in this mission until the Hokage or a jounin officially relieved him, and they had not done so yet.

"You Nara's are really too troublesome for your own good," Tsunade said finally, looking rather reluctantly impressed. "The answer to that question is both yes and no."

A strangled gasp came from the genin behind them; so it was news to them as well, Shikamaru thought. Strangely, the thought of Sasuke's death, especially at Naruto's hands, didn't faze him as much as he thought it would. Instead he was remembering something that his father had said to him some time ago.

_"Remember son, in the shinobi world, the one who shows off the most is the one that gets killed off first."_

Shikamaru had to stifle a snort at the thought; he wasn't feeling very sympathetic towards Sasuke at the moment. In fact, he was more concerned as to the effect this would have on Naruto, both psychologically and in his interactions with the civilian population of Konoha. After all, he wasn't blind. He knew that for some reason the civilians, and a significant amount of the shinobi, hated Naruto. He even knew that it had something to do with Kyuubi, though that had needed no intelligence on his part. What else was he supposed to infer when the people called Naruto 'fox-brat' and 'demon' interchangeably behind his back? For some reason, he really doubted that killing the renegade Uchiha would improve Naruto's nonexistent standing in Konoha.

Anyway… "What do you mean yes and no, Hokage-sama?"

Tsunade looked past him at the group of genin behind, before she gave an exasperated sigh. "Honestly, I don't know why I took this bloody job in the first place…" she muttered, before she looked up, a contemplative look on her face.

"All right, all of you brats, gather around," Tsunade yelled at the genin, who flinched before cautiously coming near her. "Now brats, I'm going to tell this just once, and you better listen up. No interruptions, got it?"

The assembled genin nodded, cowed. Tsunade smirked. "Right. Now as to why I said yes and no, Chunin Shikamaru," she paused, "it's because Naruto didn't kill him per se – he sealed Sasuke within himself, just like the Yondaime sealed the Kyuubi within Naruto."

…

Shizune was silent, deep in thought as she tree hopped away her way southwards in the Konoha Forest. Not that that was in any way out of the norm, with her habit of blending into the background and observing the surroundings quietly. However the perplexed frown that marred her face would have looked rather out of place on the soft spoken jounin to any outside observer. Seeing as there was nobody to notice her lapse however, Shizune was at peace to ponder over her earlier meeting and try to make sense of the mission that her master had given her. That her master had given her instructions for a solo mission was not unusual – in their travels, Tsunade had often given her similarly obscure instructions, though that was mostly in order to evade debt collectors – but even by those standards, this message was unusual.

…

_FLASHBACK_

…

Shizune had just corralled the tired genin to the Valley of the End that Tsunade had made the rendezvous point. Kiba, with his internal injuries, depleted chakra core and a mild concussion, was completely unconscious and being supported by a clearly reluctant Kakashi. Tenten was walking with a limp, favoring her side where she had taken a rather substantial hit by the Ukon possessed Kiba, while Neji, noticeably ruffled, was stiffly holding an unconscious Shikamaru up. Chouji brought up the rear, looking rather lost.

When she entered the Valley of the End, the first thing she noticed was the debris. Stone chipped from the statues were scattered far and wide, with occasional kunai amongst them, making the area around the pool resemble a battlefield in the Third Shinobi War. The statues were almost unidentifiable, with scorch marks, craters and gouges from what looked like a large blade littering its surface. The pool's water was slowly regaining its former colour, washing away the murky crimson pools of blood in it.

On the feet of Madara's statue, near a large pool of brackish blood, stood Tsunade and her entourage. Tsunade was squatting, examining the blood on the ground with almost religious fervor, something which was both surprising and at the same time not.

Yes, she thought, Tsunade had come back from her hemophobia with a vengeance. If it continued, she expected Tsunade to soon become the world's foremost expert on blood and blood related diseases. She barely withheld a smirk at the thought; she could just imagine what Orochimaru would think of that.

As the genin looked around curiously, Shizune headed over to where Tsunade was, when Tsunade suddenly looked up and beckoned. As she came closer, she soon noticed that the pool of blood was much larger than she had first thought it to be. In fact, there was, by her estimate, at least 2 pints of blood on the ground. Whoever had bled that much must surely be dead or in at least in a coma from blood loss; she just didn't know whose it was.

Tsunade got up as she approached. "Ah! Shizune. Good timing, I was going to search for you."

Shizune quirked an eyebrow in response, coming closer to her master. Her ponytails were awry and her face looked troubled, something was troubling her. "Something wrong, Tsunade-sama?"

At that, Gai (when had he even got here?) stepped forward, his boisterous voice sounding like a foghorn in the subdued crowd. "Ah! Youthful Shizune-san, A most youthful spirit most unyouthfully spirited the youthful Naruto-kun –"

"Gai!" Tsunade looked livid. "What did I tell you about using that word?" At her words, Gai quailed.

Shrinking from the approaching woman, Gai attempted to respond. "Ah… Not to, Tsunade-sama?"

Tsunade's lips curled into a thin smirk as she passed Gai, before her hand snapped forward and hooked itself to Shizune's elbow. Dragging her away, Tsunade looked back at Gai. "See that you don't."

The last thing Shizune heard was Kakashi lazily saying, "Maa… Maa… Cheer up-" before she was bodily pulled into a bush after Tsunade.

"Aieee! Tsunade-sama!" Before she could continue her indignant scream, a hand snapped over her mouth and she was twisted around to face her teacher, who she was beginning to think had lost her mind.

Tsunade had a mischievous grin on her face, which made her look that much more deranged in her opinion. Frantically trying to backpedal, Shizune looked at Tsunade hesitantly.

"Tsunade-sama," she repeated, snapping herself out of her blind panic and taking a few deep breaths before continuing. "Why did you do that?"

Tsunade was apparently immune to the note of accusation in her tone. "Ah, that?" she replied airily. "I just wanted to talk to you in private."

She really had to find another method to stop her instinctive retorts, she mused as she contented herself with an incredulous glance at her obviously deranged master. Biting her lip hurt. "Tsunade-sama, are you sure you're not sick?"

Hmm… It seemed biting her lip was ineffective as well as painful. Though, to be fair, what she had wanted to say initially _had _been much more caustic. Oh well, maybe she could just forget this one little indiscretion; it wasn't as if anyone was watching. Though if Tsunade's eyes continued to twinkle like that…

Tsunade was giggling now. "Oh, your face! That was priceless!" She stuttered out between her giggles. They dried up quickly enough, however, when Shizune pinned her with a glare. Shizune was getting a bit paranoid herself; Tsunade never got this obnoxiously exuberant unless she was trying really hard not to murder someone in cold blood. Or was trying to escape someone after screwing them over. She sweatdropped. Why was she babysitting a woman 20 years her senior anyway?

Oh right. Tsunade would probably either kill herself or the world if she was not there to curb the wilder side of her character. So maybe she should stop getting so worked up, and instead get to the bottom of this particular psychotic fit.

"Tsunade." That got Tsunade's attention, she saw. Shizune rarely called her anything other than Tsunade-sama or the occasional master. "What happened?"

Tsunade gave her a scathing look. "Fine, fine," she pouted, "spoilsport."

When Shizune continued to stare at her unflinchingly though, Tsunade began to fidget before holding her hands in front of her. "Whoa, Shizune, I'll tell, I'll tell!"

Shizune huffed. "You better, or knowing you I'll have to stop you from burning down Konoha."

Tsunade pouted. "I wasn't going to burn down _all _of it…"

"Be serious, Tsunade-sama!" Shizune snapped. She really wasn't in the mood to deal with Tsunade's moods right now. "Now what did you want me for?"

Seeing her apprentice wasn't in the mood for her antics seemed to calm Tsunade down. "Right. I wanted to give you a solo mission," she said, beginning to lay down her instructions.

"A solo mission? Now?" Shizune interrupted her, surprised at the unusual request. "Tsunade-sama, what's going on?"

Tsunade exhaled harshly, obviously trying to control her temper. "Too much to explain right now, Shizune," she said after a moment of hesitation. "Suffice it to say that I have to go back to Konoha and knock some old heads together."

Shizune could see this was serious, and Tsunade would clearly not be deviated from her path. The last time she had seen her so coldly angry had been when Orochimaru had visited them, soon after his defection from Konoha. The snake sannin had barely escaped with his life back then. So she did the only thing she could do, get out of the way. "What do you want me to do, Tsunade-sama?"

Tsunade smiled. "Go to the whirlpools and meet a ghost."

"Huh? As Shizune stared at her, confused, Tsunade's eyes twinkled maddeningly. She was clearly enjoying her confusion.

"Meet a ghost?"

"You'll know when you see it." That was all Tsunade seemed willing to say on the matter. Shizune sighed. Sometimes her master, for all her maturity, could be incredibly childish, not to mention annoying.

"I don't want this information to go any further," Tsunade continued warningly. "By the way, you've got your emergency rations and medical kit, right?"

"Of course, Tsunade-sama." She answered, feeling quite insulted. As if she would ever travel without her med-kit! Though why would she need it? "Tsunade-sama… What exactly am I going to be doing after I 'meet the ghost'?"

"Helping a suicidal brat recover from depleted life force," Tsunade answered. "Honestly, I don't know what I'm going to do with that kid." she continued, grumbling under her breath even as Shizune gasped.

"Ah. I've got no time to explain any further, and neither do you." Tsunade stated, looking at the sun. "I'll have to start pretty quickly if I want to stop Danzo marching to Suna." Looking at Shizune's bugged out eyes, she muffled a giggle.

"I'll tell you later, you better go now. If they get inside the village, you'll never find them." Tsunade added. "Don't worry, I'll send Katsuyu with the news by tomorrow."

…

_END FLASHBACK_

…

Depleted life force. That was something she had not heard mentioned in a long time. Though somewhat similar, life force was unique from chakra in that it was tied to the natural life span of an organism. It was also normally unable to be tapped by humans, and unrecoverable. Once you use any part of your life force, it was irrecoverably lost; that was the reason survival after it's use was almost considered a myth. Life force using jutsu _did _exist, but those usually were of the suicide technique type, and they used the user's acceptance of death to call up the life force.

There were exactly two different methods of accidently using up life force, sealing techniques and chakra exhaustion. And seeing as Naruto was the bearer of a unique seal _and _had been in consecutive fights for almost a day, it could be either. Personally, she hoped it was the seal; depleted life force on top of the normal chakra exhaustion usually caused irreversible damage to the victim's chakra network.

When she almost missed her step on a branch, she refocused on her travelling. It was no use speculating on her patient's state until she got there. As Tsunade always said, she would get there, do her best, and hope that it was enough. She could only try to get there as fast as possible; she didn't want the child that had managed to worm his way into Tsunade's cold heart to die.

…

Four hours later, Shizune had finally caught up to the source of the strangely light footsteps she had been following. For a moment, she stuttered on her step, unsure of what she was seeing. Sure, Tsunade _had _said she was going to meet a ghost, but she had figured her master was speaking figuratively.

What she was watching however, was making her instinctively search her chakra for any sign of a genjutsu. For surely there couldn't be a figure, only discernable through slight deflection in the light patterns, carrying Naruto on its back? It wasn't even an invisibility cloaking jutsu like Tsunade's teammate Jiraiya was rumored to have developed, because she could feel the chakra of the strange being carrying Naruto.

The very chakra of the 'ghost' as Tsunade had called it seemed somehow out of phase with reality, with a strange ethereal quality. In spite of this though, Shizune knew that the figure was corporeal; the indents it was leaving in the tree bark were real enough, though they did seem rather light for a grown person.

"Hello, Shizune-san. Enjoying the view?" A voice crooned in her ear. Stifling her shriek through years of kunoichi training, she twisted around to come face to face with the person she had been trailing, only she (for the figure was obviously a woman) was quite more material than the one she had been trailing, with her body actually reflecting some colour. Though, to be fair, it still looked more like stained glass than an actual human being. And her face was mere inches away from her. Instinctively, with reflexes honed by a lifetime as a shinobi, she lashed out with a senbon at the figure's exposed neck, only for her hand to be caught in a vice-like grip just when it was about to pierce the jugular of her assailant.

"Now that was very rude, Shizune-san. What has that granddaughter of mine been teaching you?"

"G-G-Granddaughter?"

The ghost woman smiled thinly. "Indeed." Turning back, she crouched, getting ready to travel again. "I assume Tsunade sent you?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Call me Mito. Come along." With that, Mito spun around and leapt back into the trees.

Shizune, who was following her, was feeling incredibly out of her depth. Of course she knew who Mito Senju was; the wife of the Shodaime had been the one to design many of the medical seals that Konoha General Hospital used to this very day. But she also knew that Mito was supposed to have died around the time she was born, probably even before Jiraiya took the Yondaime as his apprentice.

But this specter certainly resembled the few portraits of Mito Senju that had survived to this day in the now abandoned Senju clan home; it was undoubtedly who she was claiming to be. There was no way Tsunade could mistake the figure of her grandmother after all, and the thought that Tsunade, who had studied illusions and concealment jutsu for over a decade, could be fooled by an imposter was ludicrous.

Shizune pondered the power of the woman kunoichi who she was following; whatever her body was, the power exuding off her figure was palpable. It wasn't chakra pressure like the Sandaime, Jiraiya, or even Tsunade exuded, and it wasn't even killing intent like Orochimaru. It was simply… grace. The woman moved with a quiet self assurance that was present in only the most seasoned of warriors, every muscle movement choreographed like an elegant dance. However, in stark contrast to the bloodier kunoichi such as Anko or Tsume, the aura surrounding the woman did not make her seem threatening. Instead, the woman made you feel inadequate. It was like she had an aura of royalty surrounding her.

Though the fact that she was following the supposedly dead but apparently alive wife of the Shodaime did nothing to calm her nerves. She really didn't like going into a situation blindly. Though she seemed to be doing that quite often lately, Shizune thought somewhat sourly, as she stared at the back of Mito. The stately woman had not graced her with a single glance, let alone a word, since the original greeting. Instead the woman, who had become invisible once more, was steadily tree hopping her way to the Uzushiogakure ruins cradling the unconscious Naruto to her chest.

"You know, if you want to ask something, you should talk instead to staring at me." Mito's dry voice cut through her thoughts. Shaken out of her contemplation, Shizune refocused on Mito, who had not even turned her head. Had she really been that obvious?

"Ah." Shizune paused, unsure how to delicately approach the subject of her non-death.

Mito's lips were twitching, even as her pace slowed as she came abreast of the embarrassed Hokage's assistant. "Why aren't you dead? That's what you were going to ask, right?" Humor was lacing her words, somehow making the regal woman somehow more approachable than before.

Shizune flushed in mortification. "Ah… No, no ma'am!"

Mito gave her an indulgent smile. "Don't be embarrassed," she said soothingly, "I would have been more surprised if a medical professional like yourself did not question me on my apparent lack of mortality." Turning to look Shizune in the eye, Mito proceeded to glare at her. "And I thought I told you to call me Mito."

Shizune blushed further. "Sorry, Mito-sama."

Mito sighed, before she gave Shizune a flat look. "You really are a skittish thing, aren't you?" She asked jokingly, before breaking out in a sudden smile. The change that the smile wrought on her face was incredible, Shizune thought. Where before she had looked every bit the stateswoman, all refined expressions, emotionless face and calculating eyes, she now looked… beautiful, even if the shadows behind her eyes told her that the woman had seen things in her life she could never completely forget. "And to answer your question, I'm not currently dead because I'm not currently alive."

Having given that extremely cryptic answer, Mito smiled at her before tree hopping ahead again. The conversation was clearly over, yet Shizune couldn't help staring at her retreating back, even as she accelerated her own pace in order t keep up. At least now she knew where Tsunade had got her love for cryptic statements from.

…

When Tsunade's group finally reached the great gates of Konoha, what they saw was a ghost town. The streets were deserted, the few people in the streets scurrying with their head down. Tsunade looked around the village dispassionately; she had half expected this to happen. She really should have left somebody who could be trusted to not to start off the Fourth Shinobi War, but the fact remained that she had really not had the time to houseclean yet. Though if nothing else, this provided her with the necessary leverage to oust the old farts that had entrenched themselves in all the higher administrative posts. And if she had any say in it, Danzo would be the first to go. That man was dangerous.

"This is it, brats." Tsunade stopped in the middle of the street, where the road split into three, with one fork going to the residential districts, one to the outer districts, and the third to the administrative district, which housed the Hokage Tower as well as Konoha General Hospital. "Now all of you are to report to the hospital," she continued, her gimlet gaze resting on both Shikamaru and Kiba longer than on the others. The genin singled out slumped, before they reluctantly began their march to the hospital.

Ignoring their pleading expressions, and conveniently forgetting that she too had hated hospitals at that age, Tsunade turned towards the ANBU who had been standing silently behind her. "Tiger, Rabbit, head to the barracks and report to the captain. I'll take it from here." With a mumbled 'Tsunade-sama', the ANBU shunshined away in a swirl of leaves.

Finally, and somewhat reluctantly, Tsunade turned towards the final group with her. "Gai, Asuma, come with me to the meeting." She said tiredly, before turning around and walking towards the Hokage Tower. "Might as well deal with the fossils now," she muttered under her breath, even as Gai and Asuma fell into step behind her.

"Tsunade-sama?"

Hearing her name called out, Tsunade looked back. Truthfully, she had half expected this. "Yes, Kakashi?"

The one eyed shinobi had clearly seen better days. His one exposed eye was droopy and lifeless, and his attire was uncharacteristically rumpled. If that wasn't enough evidence, he was slumped in on himself piteously, looking utterly defeated. Still, the man's mental strength was admirable; straightening up and looking Tsunade in the eye, Kakashi was obviously trying to play off his mental state as inconsequential. "Ne, Ne, Tsunade-sama," his lone visible eye crinkled in his trademark smile, "wouldn't it be better if I came along too?"

Tsunade's face softened as she slowly walked towards Kakashi. The cycloptic jounin warily took a step back, but before he could retreat any further his shoulder was caught in a vice like grip and Tsunade's face was looming over his. "Kakashi… You're currently not in a fit mood to plant a tree, let along face those old fossils."

Even through his depressed mood, Kakashi couldn't help sweatdropping at the blunt statement. Though the statement was as subtle as a sledgehammer to the face, Tsunade's tone had been soft, almost motherly. It was a welcome relief from what he had actually expected, which was another dressing down; after all, saying that Kakashi was currently not in Tsunade's good graces would be an understatement. He had hardly had any time to relax however, when Tsunade's fist descended onto his face with all the force of a real sledgehammer. Caught off guard, Kakashi caught the blow full in the face, resulting in him being thrown off his feet and into the ground where he landed in a moaning heap of flesh.

Smiling triumphantly, Tsunade brushed off her hands. "Gai, can you have Kakashi over for the day?" Though the statement was worded as a question, the jounin wearing the green leotard recognized it for what it was. "O-O-Of course, Tsunade-sama."

"Excellent." Beaming, Tsunade turned back to Kakashi, who was just getting back to his feet. "Now, go to Gai's house and stay there until tomorrow morning." She ordered Kakashi, who stared back at her with his slack jaw visible even through his cloth mask. Though he still shrunk into himself when a predatory smirk stole across her face. "At 10 am tomorrow, you _will_ report to the Yamanaka Isshin ward in Konoha General. If you're late, I will issue mandatory taijutsu practice for you with Gai. Understood?"

By now, Kakashi was nodding his head so fast he resembled a bobblehead. "Y-Y-Yes, of course, Tsunade-sama!"

Grinning from ear to ear, Tsunade turned to leave. "And Kakashi? That punch was for acting like a wet blanket. You won't act like a wet blanket again, will you?"

"N-N-No, Tsunade-sama!"

"Humph. We'll see." With that, she turned to the dumbfounded Asuma and Gai. "Well, what are you waiting for? Come on, we've got a bunch of old farts to dismember." As she strolled down the street without looking back, her words floated back to the petrified pair. "I have a good feeling about this."

Asuma looked at Gai. Gai looked at Asuma. Simultaneously deciding to ignore that it had happened at all, the two fell into step behind their Hokage, who was now whistling a funeral march.

Behind them, Kakashi stared at their backs, a shell-shocked look on his face.

…

Naruto woke up to the gentle caress of a soft hand running through his hair. It took all the strength he had stop a groan of discomfort; his whole body hurt with a dull, bone-deep ache that permeated every cell of his body. Wearily opening his eyes, he was immediately assaulted by an acute piercing headache. Disorientated, it was quite some time before he could bear opening his eyes again. When he finally managed it, he found that he was in some sort of open circular chamber that only had the futon he currently occupying and a few scattered chairs in it. The walls were painted a faded yellow, and from the few strange slit windows in the walls let in streams of soft morning sunlight.

For a moment he was lost in thought, thinking about what had happened. Though some parts of it were obscured and muffled, no doubt due to the influence of the Kyuubi chakra, some parts stood out starkly.

_…staring up at the impaled figure of Jirobou, blood dripping down the chains onto his face…whirring chain links cutting into the exposed body of Kimimaro, agonized screams echoing in his ears…staring at the aftermath of his jutsu, looking blankly at the blob of pink flesh that was once a person…Rasengan whirring, drilling into the shoulder of Sasuke as he screamed…looking on, unbelieving, as Sasuke fell back, blood spewing from the stump of his arm… an inhuman face surrounded by a shock of white hair looming over him…_

Shuddering, Naruto turned his head, his hair brushing against his strangely soft pillow as looked at the person currently running their hand through his hair, hoping for something to distract him. All thoughts of falling back asleep had faded by now. Even if it wasn't for the pain that permeated his body, he wasn't sure he would be able to face the nightmares if he fell asleep now.

Looking up, he found the still form of Mito, only the gentle rise and fall of her chest and the hand brushing his hair marring her perfect stillness. Mito was resting against the foot of an old battered wooden chair, her head flung back and holding Naruto's head in what Naruto suddenly realized was her lap. The mouth was slightly curved in a gentle smile and her eyes were slightly glazed. All in all, she looked to be at peace, far more than Naruto had ever seen her.

For a while, Naruto simply stared at the relaxed figure of Mito, basking in the contentment of the moment. Then the hand running furrows through his hair suddenly stopped, and Mito looked down into Naruto's eyes, a soft smile on her face. "Hello, there, Naruto-kun."

Naruto gently coughed to clear his throat. "Hello, Ghost Lady," he rasped, before giving the strange room an exaggerated glance. "Where are we?"

Mito's smile widened, looking somewhat between melancholy and deliriously happy. "Naruto-kun," she paused, gesturing widely with the hand not lying on his head, "welcome to Uzushiogakure."


	11. Aftershocks

**A.N. **And now I'm back! Extremely sorry for the long delay, but it was honestly not my fault! Somewhere around the beginning of this chapter, my formerly well behaved plot bunny has been acting like the Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog.

So now that that's done, and assuming that none of you particularly want to kill me yet (We'll get there one day, one can always hope) here is the 11th installment of the Tales of the Arcane.

Oh, and by the way... Happy Children's Day!

**P.A.N**_ Sorry for the Monty Python reference. Just couldn't resist!_

_Disclaimer: Still not owning anything even remotely connected to Naruto. Though I have heard that a guy called Kishimoto is hoarding everything, the bastard. Why don't you ask him?_

_Chapter 11 : Aftershocks_

…

_Something has changed within me  
Something is not the same  
I'm through with playing by the rules  
Of someone else's game  
Too late for second-guessing  
Too late to go back to sleep  
It's time to trust my instincts  
Close my eyes and leap!…_

**_Defying Gravity – Wicked_**

…

Naruto had finally escaped Mito after what had felt like hours of insistent, and highly irritating, prodding by her. Now, after finally escaping her frankly unsettling impersonation of a mother hen, Naruto was standing on a half-ruined rampart, staring down at the unique architecture of Uzushiogakure with clouded eyes and thinking back to what Mito had told him of the reasons for his relocation to the Uzumaki ancestral land.

Looking at the ruins of what could have, in another lifetime, been his home Naruto felt a melancholy steal across his very being. Naruto had never been one to brood excessively, and he had never complained about his lot in life. Still, that did not stop the feeling that his life would have been much better had his kin, the Uzumaki whose life blood permeated the very soil of this ancient land, had survived.

He had not expected more out of the people in Konoha; he knew that his presence was both unwanted and unwelcome to the general populace. And he knew that his popularity would only further plummet after they heard of his removal of the Uchiha, expected it even. But this was not the blind fury at the loss of an idol at his hands that he would allow to disperse. This was the reopening of old wounds – and even more appalling to him, it was urging Konoha to war by the demonizing of the jinchuuriki, and Gaara. Gaara, he felt, deserved better. The boy had been moulded by the demonization of his own village, and he deserved the chance to make his amends and rebuild the bridges that had been burnt between him and his family, not to be used as a lynchpin to further the ambitions of a warhawk.

To use their hatred for him to persuade them to go to war – that was unforgivable. However long it took, Naruto would find a way to get even with this Shimura Danzo. He would not have the deaths of thousands of people on _his _head, for it was Konoha's hatred of him that they were transferring onto Naruto. The only people in Konoha to ever be able to hold a legitimate grudge against Gaara were Lee, Sakura and him. Other than that, the only damage Gaara had ever done to Konoha was to destroy about a square mile of woodland.

A cool breeze was flowing, salty with the proximity to the sea and invigorating with its chilly wetness. The calm felt overwhelming; he supposed that he had not yet settled into his routine from the nerve wracking ordeal that had been his last mission. Though, he thought cynically, in a certain sense, he was still in the mission, seeing as he had yet to step foot in Konoha and get debriefed.

A sardonic grin came to his face as he considered his position, his eyes staring blankly at the distant cliffs. It surely had to be unique; he had certainly never heard of someone who had to be protected from being lynched by a mob _for_ the successful completion of a mission.

He sighed. He would face what came when it did, and baa-chan probably had everything under control already. No, this was not the time to act rashly or to lash out at everybody. His own standing was too precarious for that, and he had no desire to destroy Konoha at the roots. No, this was the time to fortify, to train, _to find the lay of the land _as Iruka-sensei used to say, and he had no intention of prematurely showing his hand to the public and giving his opponents a chance to see him out of Konoha. Whatever happened, he would see his way to the Hokage seat, and he would rule over those that tried to trample him. Naruto could see no other revenge that could so poetically satisfy him than that.

A cry of a lone sea gull far away in the distance brought him out of his reverie, and as he looked at the source of the cry that was just a speck in the sky, he, for the first time since he had arrived in this lone deserted relic of his clan's bygone days, saw the serene beauty of the island of Uzu and the regal town that his ancestors had built upon it.

Uzushiogakure, bathed as it was in tepid morning light, had an unearthly feeling of surrealism about it. The dull sunlight shone off the faded red spirals etched in the toppled stone columns that dominated the central village. And outside the immediate village walls lay the greater expanse of the Uzu Island, in all its glory.

The Uzu Island, which he had noticed in his geography lessons as the one island every geography teacher had skipped over, was elliptical in shape. On one end, where he was now, was a vast plain that melded into the steep cliffs that faced the rough seas surrounding them. This was what the Uzumaki clan of old had turned into their refuge, building their vast fortress city in the wide fertile plains hemmed in by the untraversable sea. On the other side, casting an immense shadow over the human settlement below it, was a huge extinct volcano that was now overgrown in lush grasslands with occasional patches of heavy brush dotting the slope. Halfway up the volcano, squarely facing the village and shaped like a giant five point cross with curved arms and with a circular structure in the centre, and it was the oldest surviving building known to be created by the Uzumaki. It was one of the most sacred landmarks of the clan; the Uzumaki ritual chamber.

From what Ghost Lady had told him the ritual chamber was the place where the larger seals, which often required more than one participant, were activated. Said to be protected by fuinjutsu formulae so ancient that even the Uzumaki clan considered them legend, the ritual chamber was one of the only buildings, the other being the clan leader's office where he was residing now, to escape damage in the vicious sacking of the Uzumaki homeland. Only an Uzumaki by blood or a person with express willing permission from an Uzumaki _and _a lack of intent to harm the Uzumaki could enter the ritual chamber. Sadly, the Uzumaki had been so caught off guard that none could retreat to the structure before the opposing armies had formed a perimeter around the building.

Looking at the sprawling structure, he made a note to explore it sometime soon; he couldn't wait to analyze the obscure seals that, according to Mito, absolutely _littered _the walls of the structure.

It had not occurred to him before, Naruto realized as he stared at his surroundings curiously, how much he had missed having a home he could belong to. For while the buildings surrounding him were mostly ruins, some still blackened, crushed or otherwise marked by the genocide that had occurred here almost half a century ago, and the buildings that did survive were made in a strange amalgam of Corinthian columns and domed roofs, just looking at the vast expanse before him bought him a sense of acceptance that he had missed for so long.

A puff of smoke (chakra smoke, he recognized its unique texture) escaping from the, as far as he knew, abandoned ritual chamber made him look up with a start. Startled, half formed thoughts started to fill his mind as he stared at the slowly dispersing smoke in panic. It couldn't be Mito – that much he knew.

When he had last left her she had been preparing to go to sleep, and anyway the positioning of the office space they were using as a home made it impossible for anyone, even if they were translucent like Mito preferred to be, to cross over to the structure without being noticed by Naruto.

That left an outsider, somebody inside one of the most sacred buildings to the Uzumaki no less. Or – Here Naruto's heart clenched – it could be an Uzumaki, some long lost relation of his that had miraculously escaped the purge.

No, he wouldn't get his hopes up in vain. For now he would assume that the person inside the ritual chamber was not supposed to be there. Seeing as he was loath to wake Mito for this, it meant that he was going to have to face this threat by himself.

As he leapt off the rampart and stealthily made his way up the mountainside, he felt a smirk creeping up his face. He really wouldn't have it any other way. After all, what better way to measure his recovery than another fight?

…

The first thing Naruto noticed as he stealthily snuck into the central hall of the ritual chamber was the water. Relatively still and slowly draining from several cutouts in the floor near the walls of the building that were presumably used in its heyday to wash away the giant inked seals from the floor, was a layer of water that was about ankle-deep.

So far as he walked through the southernmost spoke of the ancient structure, everything had been as normal as could be expected from a structure that was predominantly used for sealing. Old, worn walls, made of grainy light coloured stone that was superimposed with seals that permeated the very structure of the stone, dominated the building. In a trough in the centre was a strange mound of loose earth, cycling through every species of earth Naruto had seen and a fair few that he hadn't, running the length of the spoke of the star. He could swear that there had been gold ore at one point.

At the end of the spoke however, where a narrow open doorway with hefty stone doors of the same light grey stone of the walls led into the main central hall, was a stationary wall of water that seemed unable to flow past the inner boundary of the room. Instead it curled around itself, forming a pulsing liquid bubble that contained the water within the central chamber.

Gingerly testing his footing, Naruto stepped onto the water layer trying to utilize water walking. The water, somewhat to his surprise, did exactly as he expected it to and held his weight. So the water was not some sort of last defense of the building. That had to mean that this water was somehow a creation of the intruder.

Now more wary than ever before, Naruto slowly tiptoed towards the very centre of the chamber, being careful not to disturb the water too much. It was a useless precaution if the water layer was the base for a sensory jutsu, but he did not want to tempt his somewhat unstable luck by splashing around.

However, as soon as he reached the very centre of the room, he had to stifle a gasp. From his current position he could see down each of the doors leading to the spoke like protrusions in the odd shaped building, and the grandeur of the sight and realization of exactly _what_ it was, was almost enough to make him forget why he came here in the first place.

At first glance, all the spokes were relatively identical. Stone doors opening up to long curving corridors of light coloured stone, with a large trough running along the length until the corridor curved out sight. It was what was contained in the troughs however, that had him gaping. While the one he had traversed had contained soil – no, _Earth_, he corrected himself – the others had very different contents.

The one to the right of the one had come through seemed to be empty at first glance, though when he stared closer, it seemed to contain some sort of gas that was denser than air, judging from the way distorted the light passing through it. However what caught his attention was the way small bluish sparks of electricity – _Lightning _– arced throughout the strange cloud.

The one next to it was somewhat smoky. Continuous gouts of steamy smoke – _Wind _– bellowed from what appeared to be vents at the bottom of the trough, swirling in an ever moving cloud of steam and smoke.

To his left was a pool – _Water –_ stretching into the distance and obscured by clouds of steam. Naruto had a sneaking suspicion that at least one of the clouds would be fog instead steam, if the water spoke followed the theme of the earth one. It was also obviously disturbed, which Naruto guessed was not its natural state. Well, that at least answered where the water flooding the central chamber had come from.

Finally, between Water and Wind was perhaps the most astonishing sight of it all. The trough was filled to the brim with lava, churning restlessly and letting off great plumes of flame – _Fire_. In the distance he could see a patch of asphalt, burning steadily and letting off gouts of pitch black smoke.

What sounded suspiciously like a girlish giggle brought Naruto out of his trance at the sight of the giant elemental wheel, for that was what it obviously was, that surrounded the Uzumaki ritual chamber. Carefully tiptoeing to the door and poking his head inside the water spoke, he again heard the same girlish giggle echoing in the stone corridor. He slowly sneaked into the corridor, creeping forward into the mist following the source of the continuous waves that flowed from whoever was in the corridor.

Suddenly, through the mist blanketing the corridor Naruto noticed the silhouette of a small humanoid shape leaning against what looked like a giant boulder and seemingly half submerged in the water.

Naruto's reflexes flared, leftover instincts from his multiple back to back battles; in an instant, a kunai was in his hand as he shot forward in a chakra enhanced leap. As the target came into view through the mist, Naruto barely had time to notice a pair of dark female eyes, wide open in surprise, before he was on her, kunai flashing in an arc towards her unprotected throat.

There was a whizzing sound of displaced air as something snapped past his face towards him, and then Naruto's eyes, which had been narrowed in concentration, snapped open in surprise.

A small hand slammed into his kunai wielding wrist, while another folded his elbow inwards. His other hand was caught in an iron grip, pulling him towards his assailant. Caught off guard, Naruto's own momentum carried him forward onto his own kunai until he jerked abruptly to a halt, teetering on the edge of the trough with his kunai tracing a fine crimson line across his own throat.

For a moment Naruto stilled, the face of Naruto's opponent still obscured by the remnants of the mist as he found himself in a rather embarrassing position, completely at the mercy of his enemy.

The two hands holding his own were petite; soft, pale, well manicured and utterly feminine, but wrapping around his wrists in an unexpectedly strong grip. A stray drop of water slowly eked its way down the hand holding his own kunai to his throat, finally dripping off the elbow. Naruto gulped at the sight, trying to ignore it to look at his silent captor's face, while the kunai dug even further into his throat at the attempt. A fine trickle of blood ran down his throat, which was ignored by him in favor of trying to get a view of his captor, whose face was still obscured by the remnants of mist hanging between them. A sudden panic gripped him. He did not want to die here, not now when he had so much to do. But the kunai digging into his throat deterred any thoughts of escape. High regeneration or not, he was not willing to bet his life on the chance that the Kyuubi could reattach a severed head. He couldn't even use chakra, seeing as any further strain, according to the Ghost Lady, could cripple his chakra network completely.

It was after what had seemed like an lifetime, when he heard a feminine sigh. Then the kunai slackened around his neck.

"Really, Naruto-kun," his captor's soft spoken voice (He knew that voice, but _where_) asked with obvious exasperation, "what were you doing? You were supposed to be in bed!"

And then he was released. Naruto flailed around for a moment before he regained his balance, before he settled into a wary stance, still not recognizing the voice. Though, he thought, puzzled, he _had_ heard that voice before, somewhere.

Then two arms emerged from the fog in front of him, before his assailant pulled herself out of the water as the fog started to dissipate, revealing Shizune and an enormous blue and white slug. Naruto's mind stuttered to a halt, before he started blushing furiously. Looking back at him was a vaguely pixyish face, young and graceful, framed by dark hair that now stuck wetly to her face. Large sparkling doe like eyes stared at him, staring at him with a mixture of fondness and exasperation. A lone water drop trickled down her delicate neck…

"Ne, Naruto-kun, are you alright?" Shizune stepped forward, looking worriedly at the weeping cut from his kunai, but he couldn't respond, trying as he was to understand the view before him.

By now, he could feel his face heating up in an overwhelming blush; the world was spinning around him as he stared at the Hokage's apprentice, unable to tear his eyes away. That teasing drop of water trailed its way down, down, leaving a glistening trail on her pale skin…

With a sound halfway between a sigh and a snort Naruto pitched forward, falling into the pool with a perverse grin on his face.

Panicking, Shizune hurriedly grabbed the unconscious Naruto and hauled him out of the water. "I didn't hurt him that bad, did I, Katsuyu-sama?" She asked the bemused slug beside her frantically, running a diagnostic jutsu on the unconscious redheaded genin.

Katsuyu groaned, slapping one of her longer eye stalks to her face in a parody of a facepalm. Shizune turned to her, confused.

"There's nothing wrong with the boy, Shizune-san." The slug's voice was dry but a hint of amusement laced it, further confusing the brunette.

Shizune became even more flustered. "What do you mean, Katsuyu-sama? Naruto-kun just fainted for no reason – he must be hurt!"

Katsuyu snorted. "Look at yourself, Shizune-san," she said, laughter in her tone, "All that's wrong with that boy is that he's male."

"What do you mean, Katsuyu-sama?"

"Just look at yourself."

Puzzled, Shizune looked down and then froze, a furious blush blooming on her face. A moment later, a shrill scream echoed through the chamber.

"Aaaaaaiiiiiiiii!"

"I told you it was a bad idea to take a bath here," Katsuyu said drily, rolling her eyestalks at the Hokage's apprentice as she shrunk into the water, blushing in embarrassment.

…

Naruto stared at the air a foot above Shizune's right shoulder, trying not to blush. Shizune was resolutely looking down, submerged to her chin in the icy water and blushing up a storm. On the other side of the wide trough, Katsuyu seemed to be enjoying their predicament. The whole situation was awkward in the extreme, Naruto thought as he sneaked another glance at the Hokage's apprentice.

"Ne, Shizune nee-chan," he started tentatively. Shizune sunk further into the pool, her blush intensifying. "Can we pretend this never happened, dattebayo?"

Shizune groaned, mortified, as Katsuyu chuckled from the other side of the trough. "Okay, Naruto-kun," she squeaked out, relieved. "This never happened."

Katsuyu interrupted them, a teasing note in her voice. "Oh, I don't know about that, Shizune-san. By the way, Tsunade-sama told me to tell you that she better not have any grandkids anytime soon."

Naruto choked, even as Shizune gave Katsuyu a wounded look. "Why did you tell Tsunade-sama?"

Katsuyu giggled, and Naruto finally found his voice. "Baa-chan? Baa-chan knows?" He asked, horrified.

The giant slug grinned, her eyes glinting mischievously. Naruto groaned. "She's never going to let me live that down, is she?" He asked Shizune, who nodded her head morosely.

Naruto "I'm doomed."

A demure giggle from Katsuyu distracted Naruto's attention from his own imminent death via humiliation. Scowling at the giggling slug, he muttered petulantly, "Yeah, yeah, laugh it up…"

Halfway through his grumbling, he paused suddenly as a thought struck him. "Um… How _did_ you tell baa-chan, dattebayo?"

Katsuyu, who was idly waving an eye stalk as she watched the humorous byplay stopped giggling, looking puzzled. "… I just told her, young Naruto-kun. I _can _talk, you know."

"But you're here now, so you can't be telling her now…" Naruto elaborated, in a manner befitting someone teaching a grown up that yes, one and one _did _equal two.

Katsuyu reared up in the water, insulted by Naruto's insinuation. "I don't need to explain my magnificent abilities to a rude child like you," she huffed indignantly, pinning Naruto with a glare. Naruto inwardly quailed; why did he always end up angering giant animals. He would have thought that facing Orochimaru's snake summons, Gamabunta and the Ichibi no Shukaku would have been enough for one lifetime.

Trying to act nonchalant, Naruto slowly retreated away from the towering summon, when he bumped into somebody behind him. Turning around, he came face to face with Shizune, who had a forced smile on her face. Naruto gulped; he knew that type of smile, though he couldn't tell for the life of him what he had done to deserve it.

"She can tell Tsunade-sama what's going on because she's Tsunade-sama's summon, Naruto-kun. She can send a clone of herself to Tsunade-sama." Shizune spoke softly as she always did, but the hint of steel in her tone let him know for certain that he had done something to earn her ire.

Shaking off thoughts of possible death via Hokage's apprentice off, Naruto looked inquisitively at the giant slug, only to swiftly turn back at the forbidding expression on the giant summon's face. He had never even known that a giant slug _could_ frown like that!

He knew that summons could do jutsu, but still a summon that could create clones seemed like a useful ability. He would know; after all, he was probably the person who used clones most often in all of Konoha.

"However," Shizune continued, narrowing her eyes at Naruto, bringing him out of his thoughts with a start, "I don't you talking to Katsuyu-sama like that."

Naruto looked at her, eyebrows furrowing in confusion. He hadn't said anything else to make her mad, had he? Then a part of what she had said earlier finally trickled through his mind, and all thoughts of his supposed folly flew out of his mind.

"Heh?" Naruto exclaimed, advancing on a somewhat unnerved Katsuyu with a maniacal gleam in his eyes, former trepidation forgotten. "You're baa-chan's summon Katsuyu? No way! I saw her before, she's way larger than you are!"

"I-I-I am Katsuyu, Naruto-san," Katsuyu stammered, shocked enough by the sudden turnaround in the redhead's behaviour to lose her composure, and thus her frown. Edging away from his face, which was almost touching hers as he examined her, she tried pleading her Mistress' apprentice for help. However, she found Shizune leaning back in the water, muffling her giggles as she watched the giant slug slowly retreat from the insane redhead looking for all the world like a man backing off from a snake. "Umm… Naruto-san… Can you umm… back away a bit?"

"Ne, Ne," he tilted his head to a side inquisitively, completely ignoring her request. He was now examining one of Katsuyu's eye stalks. "What are you doing here anyway, dattebayo?"

"I summoned her, Naruto-kun." Shizune said seriously. "She was just acting as a medium for me to communicate with Tsunade-sama."

"Oh." For a moment, he stared at her blankly. All of a sudden, his frivolity seemed inconsequential; feeling very much flat, Naruto slowly settled back into the water, staring intently at Shizune, waiting for her to continue.

Instead of saying any further though, Shizune merely gestured to Katsuyu. The slug huffed, before it literally split before his eyes, and a miniature version of the slug split itself from main body and headed towards Naruto, climbing up his torso and settling on his shoulder. Naruto stared at the miniature slug in apprehension. Of course, the term miniature was relative. This slug clone was infinitesimally smaller than the behemoth that Tsunade had summoned against Orochimaru, but it was nonetheless at least as long as those giant blood sucking leeches in the forest of death.

Then the slug spoke in Tsunade's voice. "Hey there brat! What is this I here of you peeking on Shizune?"

Naruto stared at the slug in horror, spluttering, as Shizune squealed in embarrassment and Katsuyu giggled in the background. "Baa-chan!" He gasped, finally finding his voice.

A boisterous giggle answered him, before Tsunade responded, her voice teasing. "Just kidding, brat. If you were really peeping, Grandmother would beat you up before I could." Naruto couldn't help but notice she seemed inordinately pleased at the fact.

"Yeah, yeah, old hag, laugh it up," he grumbled, but there was no heat in his retort. The exchange of insults was just another part of the routine between them. Sure enough, Tsunade replied as he expected.

"Don't call me old, you brat!"

"I call 'em as I see 'em, baa-chan. That little genjutsu isn't fooling me, dattebayo!" He taunted Tsunade, a grin tugging at his lips, before his mood plummeted as he remembered exactly why he was talking to Tsunade. As much fun as it was, Naruto was still uneasy about the potential news from Konoha. Interrupting the expected roar of insulted pride from his Hokage, Naruto slid into his rarely seen serious mood. "Baa-chan, what is happening in Konoha?"

A gusty sigh answered him. "A long night was what happened, brat. If it wasn't for the sake I would have probably come over there and killed you myself."

Naruto's mouth twitched at Tsunade's quip, but he soldiered on. He really was going to go mad with anticipation if he didn't know what was going on. "Jokes aside, baa-chan, what really happened? Is Konoha still going to war with Suna, cause if it is I'm coming to Konoha and kicking some arse, no matter what you say!"

"And that's exactly why you're not coming back now, brat!" Tsunade snapped at him. "I've got enough trouble in here trying to control the sheep without you trying to blow holes in it with your chains!"

Sighing, she continued in a more subdued tone. "Frankly, brat, it's been utter chaos in here for the last few hours, and the ANBU patrols are still cleaning up the mess."

Naruto's eyebrows shot up at that. The ANBU were never called in to settle a political dispute because they were not supposed to have any say in politics at all. Even the presence of the ANBU commander in the Konoha council was to give the Hokage an inlet into the workings of the lower administrative body. In fact, upon entering ANBU, the shinobi in question had to give up all clan positions, clan memberships or any other civic position in Konoha and dedicate their whole life in the posted time period to the whims of the Hokage, as long as the Hokage is not blatantly traitorous. And even then it was a fine line, with any act potentially treasonous.

For the ANBU to be called in, Naruto thought worriedly, there must have either been a direct threat to Tsunade herself, or an enemy threatening Konoha. "ANBU?" He asked, confused. "Why would you need ANBU?"

Another sigh came over the line. "Well, I suppose I better tell you what happened from the beginning, Naruto," Tsunade's voice sounded resigned coming out of the slug.

…

_FLASHBACK_

…

There was, Tsunade thought as she walked down the cavernous corridors leading to the Konoha Council Chambers, a certain irony in the way the things had come around full circle. Her grandfather, the founder of Konoha, had been the one to set up the Konoha council, as part of his system of power checks to prevent a Hokage from straying from the narrow path. It had lost power during the exacting rule of the Nidaime, who suffered no fools, and regained power during the rule of the peace loving Sandaime, her teacher. It had almost been dissolved during the short reign of the charismatic Fourth and his radical views on what was acceptable for a shinobi, which the council, even then lead by Danzo, had vehemently opposed. When a tired Sandaime had been reinstated after the Kyuubi disaster however, the council, which had been on its last legs with the restrictions the Fourth had imposed, struck back with a vengeance, acquiring a power base that, by the time she took the reins, had all but eclipsed her own. In a way, what had once been a tool to prevent excess authority in one person had itself acquired more power than necessary, and was now threatening the great tree that was Konoha.

So yes, it was ironic that that an institution whose sole purpose had been to be a power check for a _de facto _dictator would have to be dissolved, not because of a dictatorial Hokage forcibly taking power, but because the council had become the very thing it had been built to oppose. And she, Senju Tsunade, was no weak leader who stood by and let things happen just because she was new to the job. There had been a reason, after all, why she had been recalled from almost a decade of what had essentially been desertion (she had no illusions about that. It _had_ been desertion) and offered the position of Hokage.

From the corner of her eyes, she watched the jounin behind her as they jogged behind her as she strode along the long wooden corridor towards the large oaken door that barred the path to the council. For a moment, she was distracted by the urgency in their movements, straining to catch up to her. Really, what was ninja training coming to? When she was their age, and even now, this was a comfortable relaxing pace. Shaking her head, she refocused on the present; she would have time to ponder the declining standards later. She narrowed her eyes at the thought of the coming conflict, for conflict there was going to be. That mummified relic was not someone to be easily dissuaded from their path.

Asuma was slouched, and at first glance he looked as bored and utterly unconcerned with what was happening around him as he normally did, but closer scrutiny revealed the fact that his cigarette was unlit, simply dangling limply from his lips as if he had forgotten he had it. In addition, his eyes were darting across their surroundings, taking in every single detail and processing it in an instant. Tsunade chuckled to herself; that boy was sometimes more analytical than a Nara.

On the other side however, was the real object of her thoughts. Maito Gai, resident taijutsu master of Konoha and self proclaimed 'green beast', and a man who was one of the most intelligent men in Konoha while also being the most eccentric. And that was not a title to take lightly in a ninja village, especially one as open minded as Konoha, being abound with oddities such as Jiraiya, Anko, Genma, and Kakashi. That was not to say that she didn't have her own little quirks, because all high ranked ninja had them. She was just concerned because after Jiraiya, who was iffy at best and unreliable at worst, Maito Gai was the next prospect for Hokage, seeing as Kakashi was out of the question and Kurenai, the only other prospect with the proper temperament and drive was way too naïve for the job. And that thought was unsettling; Gai as Hokage? The mind boggled.

It was with a bit of a start that she noticed that she was in front of the council chambers. Through the solid door, she could already hear the heated 'debate' that was going on inside. Inwardly, she smirked. It was show time.

…

Slamming the broad oak doors as she strode into the chamber, chakra writhing around her frame like a contained storm of power, Tsunade knew she cut an impressive figure as she stared into the faces of the council members, stalking past them to her seat. Her instinct was telling her whatever followed from this meeting would be pivotal in their future endeavors, and she hadn't got this far by ignoring her instincts.

The council chamber in Konoha was a vast structure, dating back to the reign of the Shodaime and lined with privacy and anti-eavesdropping seals of Mito Senju's own design. Towards the centre of the room, facing the reinforced entrance was a skewed horseshoe shaped table that seated all its members, the longer right wing containing the clan heads, department heads and clanless ninja representatives, the left wing containing civilian representatives and the retired ninja groups representatives who were considered a lower part of the elder council, and the head of the table containing the seat of the Hokage surrounded by the elder council.

And they all (she was amused to note that this even included Hiashi Hyuga, who was generally considered incapable of such plebian things as emotions) were staring at her bug-eyed.

The civilian representatives, an obese banker, a hag-like woman with scraggly graying blond hair who was a shop owner of some repute, and a bald headed man with a perpetual sneer who was a merchant, were all half standing up, obviously interrupted in the middle of having a shouting match with the other end of the table. Tsunade's derisive glance speared through them, and as one they dropped back into their seats, looking pale from the tightly controlled killing intent flowing from her. She scoffed internally, she had never expected anything less from that set of bumbling fools; they would have jumped through hoops for Danzo even if the plan had not included more revenue for them _and_ a chance to get rid of Naruto.

The retired ninja representatives included a gruff grizzled man with a goatee and an eye-patch who had been called Ryuuken of the Lightning fist before he was cut down through his back by an Iwa-nin during a skirmish in the Second war leading to his retirement. The other was a genial looking man with soft features and a visible scar tracing his jawline and disappearing into his voluminous robes called Shinji, also called the Shinji of the Rainbow Mist who had been one of the foremost genjutsu users in his heyday. Right now though, both were sitting back in their seats, obviously relaxed and enjoying the entertainment as the surroundings went to hell around them. Tsunade could barely stop the snort that came to her as her gaze passed those two; wise they may have been, and old, being only slightly younger than Sarutobi-sensei himself, but those two were as uninspired as a Nara on their best days. And it was quite apparent that they would be content to merely watch the drama around them, without ever actually entering the debate.

On the right wing, the clanless ninja representatives consisted of Genma and Raido, highly respected clanless jounin who had both been part of the Yondaime's guard squad during their ANBU stint. They were both on their feet, having being surprised, she guessed, while they were shouting at Danzo up at the head of the table. They were also bandaged heavily. Tsunade smiled thinly at them. That was two members of the council that would back her unquestionably.

Next to them were the heads of the ANBU and the Hunter-nin divisions. The Hunter-nin head would support her, she knew for certain. The man was almost fanatic in his duties, and considered the position of Hokage his only superior. While that had brought her some headaches earlier, it did work in her favor now. But she was unsure of the ANBU Commander. Uzuki Yugao was a good kunoichi, and a loyal one, but she had been suffering through depression since her lover had been killed before the invasion by Suna. Therefore she could very well expect her to side with Danzo on the matter if only to avenge Hayate, even though she was sitting passively at the moment with face blanker than the mask attached to her shoulder.

Next to them was the stoic Morino Ibiki, the scarred interrogator. He was standing up, palms on the table as stared daggers at Danzo. Coming from him, it was the equivalent of shouting his head off. Tsunade grimaced slightly, unnoticed by the crowd gaping at her; she didn't envy Danzo for facing that stare. If nothing else, the head Interrogator was quite intimidating.

The clan heads were the same motley bunch. The Nara was sleeping, the Akimichi was eating, the Aburame was staring stoically and the Inuzuka was growling at Danzo. The Yamanaka clan head, Inoichi, was hunched over his steepled hands, analyzing the situation. The Hyuga, who had been caught in the middle of talking down condescendingly, which was his usual tone to Genma and Raido, was caught half standing up, in which position he had frozen when she had entered. He looked unsettled, which, if she was honest, greatly pleased her. A prepared Hyuga Hiashi was a political opponent she would wish only on Danzo, and this man was no friend of Naruto, or herself for that matter.

At the head of the table were the familiar faces of the council elders. To the right of the seat reserved for the Hokage was Danzo, just as grizzled, battle scarred and forbidding as ever. In the instant she had burst in he had looked as off-guard as the others. However, an incredibly unsettling smirk was now playing around his lips; in his hand he was holding an official document bearing the seal of Konoha and the Land of Fire, probably the official declaration of war.

On the other side of the Hokage seat were the two elders Homura and Koharu, perfectly unruffled aged features turned in her direction. If the two ever displayed enough emotion to label it as such, Tsunade thought to herself, they would have been frowning at her. So it seemed that the elders were all in on this silent coup that Danzo seemed to be spearheading. That was a pity; She had held out some hope for the teammates of her late sensei, but if they were willingly squandering their lives, well…

As her grandfather used to say, _'The Hokage's main duty is to protect the tree'. _

If, in the course of doing her duty, she had to go against a pair of her own teachers, then so be it. But for Danzo, whose silver tongue was probably a reason for Sarutobi-sensei's premature aging, there would be no respite. She would expose that bastard somehow, and if she had her way the mummified relic would be executed. A loose cannon like Danzo was too dangerous to keep around, after all.

Striding towards the head of the table and ignoring the gazes of the council members, Tsunade sat down in her chair nonchalantly, before leaning forward and steepling her hands in one of her classic poses. Looking over her hands, she carefully stared at each council member in turn. A disturbing smile on her face and eyes glittering with malice, she looked over the gathering, her eyes pinning the members in place. Even the Nara was awake, staring at her with wide eyes.

"So," she drawled, her voice echoing in the deathly silent chamber, sounding like a malediction to the jittery council members. A few of them shivered, looking away from her sardonic smile, which only made it grow even wider as she continued. "Anybody care to tell me what's going on?"

…

Even as the rest of the council subsided under her unnerving stare, Danzo got up, a smarmy smile on his bandaged face. "Ah… Our errant Hokage returns..." He drawled mockingly, obviously assured of his position. Tsunade's eyebrows went up slightly in her surprise as she swiftly altered her plans. It seemed that Danzo seemed confident enough of his effort if he was making such an open move. If she was honest with herself, it unnerved her slightly; she wasn't used to the shadowy ROOT leader moving in the open.

She refocused as Danzo continued, the superior smirk on his face already making her want to murder him. She really did not know how Sarutobi-sensei had endured his insolence for so long.

"I think the council would like to know what led you to abandon your post so soon after you took it," the mocking tone deepening towards the end of his question, "_Hokage-sama_."

From the corner of her eyes she saw a few councilmen start to nod before they looked at her and froze, and she sighed slightly. This was not something she was going to be able to misdirect the council away from, damn that mummified relic. She had wanted to get some more time to organize herself before she got interrogated.

Drawing herself up, Tsunade glared at the smug face of the elder. "Remember who you are speaking to, Danzo-san," she said coldly, "you seem to have forgotten your position lately."

Danzo's smug grin widened. "And you are still a fool, Tsunade-hime," Danzo responded blandly, before continuing in his usual deliberate drawl. "But don't let my views stop you from enlightening us. What exactly was so important that you would abandon your seat to chase after some expendable genin, especially in the state of war we are currently having with Suna?"

As Tsunade opened her mouth to answer, they were interrupted by a low growl by a livid looking Tsume. "How- How dare you," she sputtered, looking apoplectic with rage, "those are our children you called expendable, you slimy bag of filth! Why, I should – "

"That's enough, Tsume-san," Tsunade interrupted her quietly, also glaring daggers at Danzo for the callous remark. "It's obvious that you can't teach this old warhawk any new tricks."

As Tsume subsided, Tsunade continued in a flat tone that told everyone that knew her that she was extremely annoyed. "And on that note, who authorized a declaration of war on Suna?" She looked at the faces gathered around the table, some of which shrunk under her gaze. She noticed, with some disappointment, that the ANBU commander was among them. That was just what she needed, she thought glumly; more work. She liked the kid, she really did, but she didn't want to set a precedent – an ANBU Commander was supposed to represent the Hokage's interest and the Hokage's interest only, and allowing an ANBU commander to retain their position after such an obvious misuse of power would set a precedent.

Finally, her gaze settled back on Danzo. "Shimura Danzo-san," she said quietly, "perhaps _you _have something to say as to how the village _I am ruling_ has declared war on an _allied village_ without me being informed?" Her voice growing caustic, she continued, "And as far as I can remember, declaring war is the purview of the Hokage, and not that of the council? Perhaps you can explain why the council has decided to overstep their bounds."

Danzo got to his feet slowly, steadying himself with his ever present cane as he deliberately made eye contact with each council member, hands cupped over the top of his cane and his serious gaze sweeping over the gathering before they came to rest on a frowning Tsunade. "Remember, Tsunade-hime, if a new Hokage is acting incompetently," he stated gravely, "the elder council retains the right to suspend the Hokage, as long as he or she is still in their first 2 years of office. And you, Tsunade-hime, are still very much within the probationary period."

Tsunade smirked back at Danzo. "And do not forget yourself, Danzo-san, that it was my Grandfather who wrote those laws. You can only remove me, however temporarily, if Konoha is facing a war, and you have the support of more than two-thirds of the clans and the unanimous support of the clanless representatives." The smirk grew slightly. "Until then, Danzo-_san_", she continued, "I am the Hokage of Konohagakure, with all that entails."

Tsunade could see the smoldering rage in the one visible eye of the crippled elder. Obviously, he had not expected her to be so acquainted with Konoha law, so soon. Well, she thought smugly, too bad for him. She had learned Konoha law by heart at her grandfather's knee, and she could recite the Konoha accord by heart. Though she had to admit, she hadn't thought it would have been so useful when she was learning it.

"Nevertheless," she continued, facing forward and staring through her fingers at the assembled council. "Any declaration of war that has been sent to Suna is to be retracted immediately, with an apology on my behalf." Her bland statement was met with a flurry of muttering between the council.

Danzo in particular looked apoplectic with rage. "Tsunade-hime," he started, his voice a dangerous growl, "you have no idea of what you are doing. Stop acting like a petulant child! What you would have done would portray our village as weak, and us as weak shinobi who would suffer invasion of _our _land without retaliation!"

Taking a deep breath, she tried to centre herself before she spoke. "They were duped, as were we, by my errant teammate, and we have both suffered equally. To weaken each other serves us no purpose whatsoever and in our state, even if we overrun their land, we would be far too weak to retain it for any length of time before Iwa invades them, and possibly us! We're holding off their advances barely as it is, would you have us run over?"

Some of the assembled council seemed to fidget at her portrayal, as if they had never even stopped to think of what would have followed their hasty actions. Tsunade sighed to herself; truly, Konoha had to lose most of this administrative dead weight if it was to function. When her grandfather had created it, his own charisma had held the institution together, preventing any dissention. However by the time of Sarutobi-sensei's second reign, he had been far too old to do an adequate job, and thus Danzo and the elders had subverted it to their own systems, strangulating the system thoroughly. Now, she had the unenviable task of untangling political machinations spanning decades, and finding out the duds from the necessary cogs of the system.

The sharp rap of wood against wood brought her attention back to Danzo. The wizened shinobi seemed to be controlling his overwhelming rage with the control granted through decades of politics; as it was, the only tells of his mood were the rather harder than necessary grip on his cane and his lone visible eye narrowing slightly. When he spoke, his voice was a low, even drawl, while his eye was fixed squarely on her face. "Surely you must see this, Tsunade-hime. Konoha can withstand any assault on itself as we have withstood them for as long as Konoha was standing. Do not insult Konoha. The great tree will stand! Letting Suna invade us, retreat and call us their allies is an insult to everything we have shed our blood for. Will you betray Konoha, Tsunade-hime?"

The utter certainty in the tone, the compelling words, they seemed to capture the audience in a way that no discussion as of yet had succeeded. But while every other ear was turned towards the wizened elder's patriotic rally, Tsunade was not concentrating on him at all. For as soon as Danzo started speaking, she had stiffened, as a violent itch had developed in her mind. A second later, a minute seal flared behind her neck, burning her skin as its dull red shine was hidden by her haori.

…

_END FLASHBACK_

…

"Huh? What do you mean you had a seal on your neck? Who put it there, baa-chan? 'Cause if it was that old cripple, I'm coming right back and killing him!" Naruto squeezed the small slug in his hands, shaking it back and forth. The main body of Katsuyu was looking somewhat dizzy at the treatment to its clone.

Meanwhile, Shizune had edged closer to Naruto, mesmerized by the story. "Umm… Tsunade-sama, you didn't tell me about a seal either. Who put it there? Are you okay? Should I come back-"

She was interrupted by a quiet snigger. "Relax, Shizune. On the contrary, that seal probably saved my life." She giggled somewhat nervously, before muttering under her breath, "Thank the Sage for Senju Toka."

Naruto stared at the slug clone which was speaking in Tsunade's voice. "Who's Senju Toka?"


	12. Hailing Halcyon Days

**A.N. **Well hello there. Welcome to yet another episode of Tales of the Arcane. Now before I start the story, I have a question for you. Exactly how many of you have got the desire to smack Kishimoto around lately? I know I have. Seriously, where he is going with the last chapter I really don't want to know, but that guy has a serious Sasuke fixation, and it's making me nauseous.

Sorry about that. Rant over. Kekkeigenkai95 exit stage left.

_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, but I did own a shuriken once…_

_Chapter 12 : Hailing Halcyon Days_

…

_Feel the breeze deep on the inside,  
look you down into your well  
If you can you'll see the world in all his fire  
Take a chance like all dreamers can't find another way  
You don't have to dream it all, just live a day_

**_Save a prayer – Duran Duran_**

…

…From last chapter…

_"Relax, Shizune. On the contrary, that seal probably saved my life." She giggled somewhat nervously, before muttering under her breath, "Thank the Sage for Senju Toka."_

_Naruto stared at the slug clone which was speaking in Tsunade's voice. "Who's Senju Toka?"_

…

Shizune cleared her throat nervously. "Umm… What do you mean, Tsunade-sama? Senju Toka was before your time."

Naruto looked at the slug in his hands wonderingly, as if he could see Tsunade in the little slug. "Before her time?" he muttered in surprise, before his tight control over his tongue failed. "Man, she must be ancient. Ouch!" He rubbed his head as an unrepentant Shizune lowered her hand from when she had bopped him. "You're so violent, Shizune nee-san! Are you trying to be Baa-chan?"

Shizune grinned smugly. "Well, Naruto-kun, someone has to keep you in line, and I'm the only one here, so…"

Naruto mock pouted, hunching over himself. "So cruel…"

Shizune chuckled indulgently. "Enough, Naruto-kun." Turning towards the slug in Naruto's hands, she continued, pulling the conversation back on track. "So Tsunade-sama, what was the seal?"

"You know, Senju Toka was an undisputed prodigy in genjutsu in the latter days of the warring clans era," Tsunade started her narration. "This was a somewhat strange subject to specialize in, even for one of the Senju clan which prided itself on its diversity of talents, because genjutsu, much like katon ninjutsu, was the specialty of their mortal enemies, the Uchiha. However, she soon rose in the ranks, becoming renowned for her skill, until she was hailed as being even better than Uchiha genjutsu specialists, who she routinely defeated in border skirmishes that she took part in."

Shizune was nodding her head absently, while Naruto listened intently; this sounded like an interesting story. "Remember, this was in the time when the Uchiha clan was in the peak of its ascent, and the enmity between them and the Senju was on the rise. Headed by the combined leadership of the legendary Uchiha Madara and Uchiha Izuna, the Uchiha were slowly but steadily invading Senju territory. While Hashirama, my grandfather, held off Madara and his brother Tobirama held off Izuna in repeated skirmishes, the leadership of the Senju battalions fell to their second cousin, Senju Toka. All the records from that indicate that she was a capable leader, often gaining crucial victories. But it is agreed in all records, that she was…" Tsunade paused, "shall we say… unconventional?"

A snort from the mist surrounding them interrupted Tsunade. Mito emerged from the mist, looking very amused. "That's the most restrained opinion of Toka I've ever heard," she sniggered, gracefully slipping into the water between Shizune and Naruto dressed in an extremely bright green swimsuit she had procured from somewhere, which looked odd on her translucent body to say the least.

"Hello, Tsu-Tsu."

Settling in the water, she continued. "She was arrogant, shunned human contact, and was a perfectionist. She was extremely proud of her chosen art." She giggled. "She was also famous for making potential suitors think she had castrated them, you know."

Naruto winced, even as Shizune and Katsuyu giggled. Tsunade huffed. "Thank you grandmother, for that _extremely _relevant information," she said dully. Mito stared back at the slug innocently, her eyes twinkling in mirth.

Ignoring Mito, Tsunade continued her tale. "So anyway, according to my grandfather, one day one of the Uchiha she had met managed to catch her in a genjutsu which had almost made her kill her own team and defect to the Uchiha. She did recover at the last moment, but the mission was a failure and her professional pride had been smeared."

"Yeah, I remember that time," she interrupted, ignoring Tsunade's huff of annoyance. "I was in the Senju camp as an ambassador, when the frigid Toka herself came to me and begged, _begged," _Mito emphasized, shaking her head disbelievingly, "to help her with a project."

"I knew it!" Tsunade exclaimed, turning towards Mito. "I was up all morning trying to decipher the seal – I knew I recognized the Uzumaki designs!"

Mito blushed. "I didn't do much, you know," she protested, "she just wanted me to teach her how to detect genjutsu using seals, and I know no other sealing technique to achieve something so finicky, you know."

Naruto interrupted them at this point, impatient to know what happened. "So what did that seal do?"

"Well, Toka had found that the technique used on her had been an obscure Uchiha genjutsu utilizing the Sharingan called Kotoamatsukami." Tsunade said, continuing the story. "It had some pretty hefty prerequisites in order to use it, and it was so rare that Toka probably would never have met another user, seeing as she had killed the one to use it on her as soon as she broke free. However she was determined to beat the technique, if for nothing else then to regain her pride."

"She discovered that Kotoamatsukami was in reality not one genjutsu, as she had first thought, but a compound genjutsu. The first component acted like a virus, lacing the subjects thought processes and making them susceptible to hypnotic suggestion. The dangerous part was that this part of the genjutsu felt like the victim's own reasoning due to the first component. Further, the genjutsu was virtually impossible to detect due to it mimicking the flow of chakra in a human closely. She had tried every possible way to detect when it was being cast on her to no avail. In the end, she had to admit that it had stumped her; she couldn't identify the genjutsu being cast on her."

Mito smirked, cutting in on the story once more. "And of course she couldn't give it up like any sensible person would have done, you know. Oh no, _that was not the Senju way_." Mito mocked, mimicking a slow deliberate drawl. Naruto could just picture a stately clanswoman speaking to Mito who was wearing her poker face, and before he could help himself, he was laughing.

Mito cracked a small grin, eyes twinkling at him, even as Tsunade grumbled. "You're never going to let me tell my story, are you, grandma?"

Mito waved a hand indulgently. "Go on, go on, my cute little granddaughter." Naruto stared at her, nonplussed by her relaxed demeanor. Indeed, he had noticed that Mito seemed considerably less serious compared to when she had been in Konoha. He didn't know if it was getting away from Konoha or coming back to Uzu, but she was obviously much happier here, and he didn't know why. He would've thought that she would've liked Konoha. Stumped, he decided to focus on the story. It wasn't as if he had any objection anyway. Currently, he being away from Konoha was good for health, both his and Konoha's.

Tsunade grunted irritably in reply to Mito's taunt, before concluding her story. "So anyway, in the end, she managed to create a seal that works to counter the hypnosis genjutsu component found in the signature unbeatable advanced Sharingan genjutsu of the Uchiha such as the Kotoamatsukami, the Tsukiyomi or the Izanami, which all rely on that hypnosis aspect, and each Senju member has the seal tattooed to their neck ever since. Of course we couldn't make it a public technique, or the Uchiha clan would've been up in arms to ban it, so it's stayed a Senju Hidden jutsu all these years."

Naruto frowned at her. "But that old mummy is no Uchiha, though he certainly looks the part, the frowning bastard. Why the hell did your seal activate?"

Tsunade sighed. "In case you forgot, Naruto-kun, one of that man's eyes is covered."

…

_FLASHBACK_

…

Tsunade stiffened as the skin in the nape of her neck began to burn. Caught off guard, it took her a moment to identify the burning sensation as the activation of a tattooed seal, of which she had acquired dozens, especially as the teammate of an aspiring seal master. Trying to ignore the unidentified, and persistent itch in her mind, she tried to focus on remembering which seal she had at the nape of her neck, only to come up empty. As ludicrous as the thought was, she was leaning towards the idea that it was a foreign seal and preparing to channel healing chakra to neutralize the seal when a hazy memory finally came to mind.

Of course, the **_Advanced Sharingan Hypnosis Dispel_**! But that was not possible. The only Sharingan bearer in the elemental nations right now was Kakashi, and even he had the basic Sharingan. So was the seal malfunctioning – but no, that persistent itch must be the secondary genjutsu, which meant that the primary hypnosis _had _been there. There were just a few who had reason to hypnotize her at this crucial juncture, and of those, only one had the opportunity, Tsunade thought grimly, subtly eyeing Danzo's bandaged eye-socket which could easily contain a Sharingan with no one being the wiser.

Blood was coursing through her veins, beating a frantic tattoo in her head; never had she been so enraged, even when Orochimaru had tried to recruit her. She remembered something that her grandfather, a renowned pacifist in his time and an ardent supporter of unity with the Uchiha clan, had told her.

_"Remember, Tsu-Tsu, the Uchiha are not our enemy, but our comrades. But also remember this, if that seal on your neck starts burning while speaking with a Sharingan wielder, exterminate the offender with extreme prejudice. For there is one truth that is more precious to protect than even peace, and that is free-will."_

Danzo's visible eye widened in uncomprehending horror, looking on as Tsunade abruptly got up, her hands flying into a seal. "**_Kai!" _**Her roar echoed in the enclosed chamber accompanied by a massive chakra flare, and Danzo slumped in his chair from the backlash of the dispelled genjutsu. The council was erupting into chaos, the civilians cowering as the shinobi were pulling out weapons to defend themselves, and the ANBU detail guarding the door burst in, trying to make sense of the situation. Yugao, pulling her oni mask onto her face, yelled, "Defend the Hokage!" as half a dozen blank masked assassins dropped from the ceiling, landing between Danzo and the Hokage, swinging their blunt edged tanto at her.

Immediately, the ANBU and the Clan Heads snapped into action, engaging the intruders. In the midst of the chaos, Danzo slowly stood up, his face grim, holding back a pained grimace. At the moment, no one seemed to suspect him of any wrongdoing, but once his ROOT were cut down, and he had no illusions as to their ability to defeat the Clan Heads, Tsunade would expose him.

Tsunade leapt from her position, smoothly bypassing the clashing shinobi and the utter chaos that permeated the council chamber to land in front of Danzo. Her chakra was spiking, but her face was utterly expressionless and her voice flat and quiet. Nevertheless, all the council members, even the Clan Heads embroiled in the clash with the mysterious shinobi, heard her declaration.

"Shimura Danzo, you have been caught in the acts of bloodline theft, illegal experimentation, mind manipulation and assaulting the current Hokage. For these crimes, I, Senju Tsunade, Godaime Hokage of Konohagakure in the Land of Fire, declare that you are to be summarily executed."

Danzo's lips curled in a mocking sneer, his hands still atop his cane as he stared back at Tsunade, looking utterly relaxed. "Do you really think you can touch me, Tsunade-hime?"

Then two blurs materialized beside Danzo, two hands stretching out simultaneously at his eye level…

Danzo's eyes widened, but having been concentrating on Tsunade, stood no chance to dodge. Together, unerringly, two strangely silvery kunai embedded deep into Danzo's eye sockets. Tsunade having noticed the blurs and moved to reach Danzo before they did, lurched to a stop in incomprehension.

The ROOT that had survived until now jerked to a stop in the middle of the respective battles, before they were summarily cut down. And as Danzo toppled, his face locked in an expression between smugness, shock, and horror, two silvery handles inscribed with _'The will of fire burns' _in the Sandaime's meticulous hand were sticking out of his ruined eyes. Above his corpse stood the unexpectedly upright and solemn looking figures of Homura and Koharu.

No one spoke. Homura was stock still, his hand still in the position in which he had stabbed Danzo, staring down at the blood dribbling down the wooden floors as if in a trance. A lone tear ran down Koharu's face, splashing onto wizened face of the dead shinobi, before she turned away, shoulders slumped and looking older than ever.

Still stunned, Tsunade cautiously stepped towards her old mentors, a whirlwind of thoughts plaguing her mind. At her footsteps, Koharu looked up, when Tsunade looked into her eyes she, for once, did not see the shrewd elder who had always been comparing her unfavourably to the other Hokages. Instead, she saw an old woman who had seen too much, felt too much, and done too much to come out of the experience unscathed. Almost involuntarily, she paused as Koharu managed to somewhat imitate her normal forbidding expression. Somehow stepping closer seemed to be something that should not be done, like interfering in something outside her scope of understanding.

Seemingly shaken from his stupor, Homura stepped up to Koharu quietly and gently placing a hand on her shoulder. When he touched her, all resistance seemed to fail Koharu, as she turned and collapsed onto Homura, burying her head into his chest as all the shinobi (the civilians had from Tsunade's killing intent) looked away awkwardly.

Homura's eyes, looking shrewd as always behind his spectacles, speared into Tsunade from above Koharu's shoulder. "Take care of Konoha, Tsunade-hime," he whispered, looking into her eyes, before his eyes slipped once more onto the corpse in the council floor. He sighed. "We need some time alone, if you would allow it, Hokage-sama." He added, with a formal bow. Tsunade stared at him, dumbfounded. Never had she seen the usually unflappable man looking so… old.

Turning around, he muttered, just loud enough for Tsunade to hear. "He might have tried to take away our free will, but he was still our friend."

Supporting Koharu, the frail looking old man turned towards the great doors of the chamber, pausing at the entrance to look back at her solemnly. "Now, if you will excuse me, I have to arrange a funeral for a shinobi." After a moment, he amended, "If you would allow it, that is, Hokage-sama."

Staring at the pair of wizened shinobi, Tsunade couldn't find it in her heart to refuse. She gave a solemn nod, and Homura nodded back respectfully before walking out of the chamber, supporting Koharu.

Eventually, the silence was broken by a whistle by Tsume, the Clan Head of the Inuzuka. "Whew! Who would have thought it of the old fossils!"

The kikaichu around Aburame Shibi seemed to buzz. "Indeed it is unexpected, Tsume-san. Why? Because the elders have always seemed to be more loyal to themselves than to the Hokage. But it is also not unexpected. Why? Because they have always worked to strengthen Konoha, and war with Suna would destroy us. Therefore it is logical-"

"Oh for Log's sake, stop it with the droning, you're giving me a headache!" Tsume growled. Shibi quieted, though the buzzing of his kikaichu betrayed his irritation.

Nara Shikaku grunted irritably. "Troublesome. Hokage-sama, those attackers were assuredly Danzo's ROOT ANBU. That means there probably are more of Danzo's agents in the village." His eyes narrowed. "We also must not rule out the possibility of a dead man's switch scenario, seeing as those ROOT clearly felt their master's death…"

He was interrupted as the sound of explosions rang through the building, rattling furniture.

"…troublesome."

…

_END FLASHBACK_

…

When Tsunade had finished her tale, an uneasy silence fell upon the gathering. This continued until Naruto, impatiently, asked the question that everyone wanted to know. "Ne, Baa-chan, how's the damage to Konoha?"

Tsunade snorted. "Well, the ROOT were acting in a dead man's switch, but ANBU mobilized before they could hit any of the really sensitive targets. As it was, 23 civilians were injured, none were killed and 53 ROOT nin, all at chunin level or higher, were killed resisting arrest. We lost 3 chunin, and there were some property damage from the destruction of their bases, but it seems Danzo wasn't quite as meticulous as he believed himself to be. We found over 20 ROOT trainees in one bunker that hadn't completely collapsed."

"That makes it two groups of underground shinobi operating inside the village and conducting inhuman experiments." She continued with a sigh. "No wonder the other villages call us the village of the monsters."

"That's not the problem here, you know," Mito interjected calmly. "What is the public opinion, and how is Suna going to react?"

"Well, in a stroke of luck, no declaration of war has been sent to Suna officially, so I managed to sweep that whole diplomatically under the rug, so to speak. Controlling Konoha's population, on the other hand, has not been so easy."

Mito grimaced. "I thought that might be the case, you know. So returning any time soon is a no go then?"

"Not a chance. The elders are basically hermits now, the civilian councilors have been sacked, and even the ANBU commander had to be replaced, at least temporarily. Add that to the turmoil over sensei's death still not being settled…" she grimaced, "well, Konoha is very unstable now, and the Clan Heads and I had to work very hard to get the situation under control."

"Hmm…" Mito nodded, "Whatever else about the man, Danzo always struck me as a person to move a crowd, you know."

Tsunade laughed hollowly. "Tell me about it. That Suna was going to let the Ichibi invade Konoha, after that whole debacle with the Kyuubi, seems to have won quite a few converts among the ignorant, and there's a rumor going around that Naruto helped him escape after their fight that isn't helping matters at all."

Naruto had to grin at that. "Well, at least they got something right." Mito, Shizune, and even Katsuyu gaped at him incredulously, which to their annoyance merely seemed to tickle his humor more.

"What, dattebayo?" he asked innocently. "I knocked him down after dispelling his bijuu state, gave his sorry arse a little pep talk, and when his brother and sister came to collect him, I told them to simply walk away."

"What… Are you…Just… Don't talk anymore," she groaned. "Whatever, I suppose you can't help insanity."

Naruto merely grinned back. "Well I know I'm awesome Baa-chan, no need to say it!" Tsunade scoffed.

"More like retarded." She muttered under her breath.

"I heard that, you old hag!"

"Shut up, brat, before I shut you up myself!"

"You can try, you wrinkly old-"

"Enough!" Reflexively, both Naruto turned to see who had shouted, only to face Shizune who looked displeased to say the least. Taking a deep breath to calm herself, she fixed a hard stare on both of them. "Just for a little time," she ground out, "can you two act like adults?"

"She started it!"

"He started it!"

"Stop copying me, you old hag!"

"Stop copying me, you brat!"

"Shut up! Both of you!"

Both Tsunade and Naruto paused mid expletive, before slowly turning to face Shizune, who looked, if possible, even more pissed than before. Naruto gulped.

Valiantly trying to ignore her anger, Shizune started speaking in a tightly controlled, even tone. "Tsunade-sama, how did you cover up Naruto-kun's disappearance, and what did you say to Shikamaru-san and the others?"

Tsunade spoke hesitantly, studiously not looking Shizune in the face. "He's on training leave, and has been taken to one of the Senju clan hideouts for convalescence from your last fight."

Naruto's smirk grew wider. "So does that mean I'm getting paid, dattebayo?"

"Not a chance, brat! Be thankful I'm not charging the damages from this mayhem to you!" Tsunade shot back, before cowering as Shizune glared at her. After all, she was not in her own body. An angry Shizune who was large enough to crush you between her hands was not a comforting thing to see. Nope. It wasn't cowardice at all, it was prudence. Prudence!

Naruto started to giggle at Tsunade's reaction, before Shizune's gimlet eye was turned on him. He turned away, shivering. Man, Shizune nee-san was scary!

…

The next day found him up before the crack of dawn, trying to regain his form. According to Shizune, the deterioration of tissue that he had suffered due to the use of large amounts of Kyuubi chakra had been exacerbated by the final jutsu that he had used, which had siphoned his life force in order to seal Sasuke. Therefore he had to condition his body from the beginning, which was, in his opinion, a pain. To exacerbate the issue, the use of life force without proper channeling had caused his own chakra coils to get clogged with his life force, making it unable for him to use any chakra, even if he was allowed.

The only consolation was that the events of the past days had conveniently given him a get out of Konoha free card. Now, stuck in the ruins of his homeland for an unspecified time, he could finally concentrate on the training that he had been fretting over for quite some time. Not to mention the fact that he had two dedicated sensei to help him, especially in the fuinjutsu field which he felt he was lagging behind terribly.

Panting as he stumbled to a stop from his morning run, Naruto flopped limply onto the cool dewy grass in the grasslands of Uzushiogakure. From where he was lying, he could spot Shizune in the distance picking herbs for the stomach churning concoctions she made Naruto drink after every meal. This was in addition to the hour long therapy sessions where she would use that strange tingly green medical chakra technique on him.

In spite of the fact that her proximity usually meant some sort of disgusting medicine these days and the fact that Naruto had discovered that she had the same uncanny ability as Iruka had of making you feel absolutely guilty for not obeying their orders, looking at Shizune still brought a smile to his lips. There certainly was more to that kunoichi than met the eye.

He analyzed that last thought, before his brain stuttered to a stop and he blushed brightly, taking another surreptitious glance at the med-nin. Considering their first meeting in Uzu, maybe he shouldn't have worded it that way…

"Naruto-kun!" The yell made him turn away from his staring, to see Mito strolling in his direction, before she gracefully dropped to the grass beside him. She turned towards him, a gentle smile on her face. "How's the rehabilitation coming along?"

Naruto lay back on the cool grass, letting it cool down his body as he absently chewed a grass blade. "As well as can be hoped, I suppose." He said, shrugging. "I'm not yet at hundred percent, that's for sure." He plucked another blade of grass absently. "Any progress on my little chakra problem, Ghost Lady?"

Mito merely shook her head, slightly.

Frowning, Naruto turned his head to observe the spectral form of his ancestor face to face. He tilted his head inquisitively. "Then what are you doing here, Ghost Lady? I thought you were checking up on the hidden fuinjutsu archives in the ritual chamber?"

Mito waved a well manicured hand dismissively from where she was laying down, looking the picture of tranquility. "Meh. I got bored of pouring over those dusty scrolls. Besides, needling you is much more entertaining, you know."

"It's good to know I am such a source of hilarity to you, Ghost Lady." Naruto stated drily.

"Oh, you're welcome, Naruto-kun. So, why were you staring at Shizune-san when I came, you've usually got much better environmental awareness?" Her eyes twinkled mischievously, and Naruto noticed with a hint of dread that she was developing a slight smirk. "You wouldn't happen to be succumbing to your pubescent lustful urges, would you?"

"W-What?" Naruto sputtered, sitting up abruptly as he choked on the grass blade. He was staring at her with wild eyes. "What the hell, Ghost Lady? Are you trying to get me killed? I don't know about you, but an angry Shizune nee-san scares me more than you do!"

Mito smirked triumphantly, continuing smoothly. "Not that there is anything wrong with it, of course! The earlier you rebuild the Uzumaki clan the better, I always say!" Naruto, who had just managed to unclog his windpipe, immediately choked on the grass blade again, hacking and coughing as he looked at Mito in horror. Mito, looking supremely unconcerned, added, "And don't think I didn't notice that you didn't deny it, Naruto-kun," completely ignoring Naruto's rapidly paling face and violent shushing motions.

Just as Naruto was about to whisper something back, he froze as another voice drifted past him. "He isn't what, Mito-sama?"

Face bloodless, Naruto slowly turned around to see that Shizune was right behind him, a basket of herbs in her hand. Shakily pinning a smile onto his face, he greeted Shizune weakly. "Uhh… Hello, Shizune nee-san?" He threw an urgent glare at Mito. "It's nothing, nothing! Nothing happened at all, right Ghost Lady?"

Shizune, bewildered, turned to Mito, who merely giggled demurely in reply. Sighing in annoyance, Shizune turned towards Naruto, who had been inching away from her, and grabbed him by the arm. "Where do you think you're going, Naruto-kun?" She tilted her head, smiling sweetly, and Naruto shuddered.

"I swear I wasn't peeking at you, Shizune nee-san!"

"What are you talking about, Naruto-kun?"Shizune asked, looking back at him bemusedly. "You didn't forget that your medical checkup is now, did you?"

"No, I didn't forget – I didn't remember-" Naruto stuttered incoherently, before turning anguished eyes towards Mito. "Ghost Lady, save me from the evil medic!"

Shizune suddenly stopped dragging his by his arm, to turn towards him with a sickly sweet smile. "What did you call me, Naruto-kun?"

"Nothing! N-N—Nothing at all!"

Shizune smiled cheerfully, before resuming her march to their quarters, dragging a reluctant Naruto behind her. "I thought so."

"And Naruto-kun…" Shizune added in a sickly sweet tone that had Naruto cringing.

"W-What, Shizune nee-san?"

Shizune turned towards him, still holding him by the wrist. "If I ever catch you peeping on me, I will castrate you. Understand?"

Naruto nodded fearfully, crying anime tears as Shizune resumed dragging him to do the medical checkup. Man, why did this sort of thing always happen to him? He wasn't a pervert!

…

Before Naruto even noticed it, a week had passed on the island. Naruto had fallen into a repetitive routine.

Every morning Naruto would get up before the sun rose, doing warm ups and jogging around the large island until his muscles, still not completely recovered, burned with fatigue. After breakfast, he would usually join Mito in either learning the basics of fuinjutsu, or go to Shizune who would help him in academics or strategy. This would be followed by one of Shizune's medical therapy sessions, after which Naruto would explore the ruins of Uzushiogakure, on the lookout for any secret caches or anything that might be of any value that had survived the original invasion and the effects of time and weather. In the evening, Naruto would resume his training, which due to him still being forbidden from accessing chakra in any significant amount meant more fuinjutsu training, though the evening sessions were more a pretext for Mito to study his jinchuuriki seal, as she was apparently fascinated by its metamorphosis during the Shinigami incident, as he had come to call it. After the sessions, which often lasted until after dusk, the three would have an early dinner, crowded around the campfire with Tsunade's slug summon which she used to relay the information of the outside world, and go to sleep early, warmed by the dormant volcano at the doorstep of the village.

Currently, Naruto was in one of his scavenging trips, searching a small household that seemed to have been abandoned and thoroughly sacked by the invading army. It was a desolate scene; broken ornaments lay flung to the ground and forgotten, and the salty sea breeze had got into many of the buildings, their protective wards already having been broken in the invasion. However, much to the relief of the group, there were no dead bodies to be found on the island. This was, as Mito had explained, because of the island's automated organic waste disposal system.

The Uzumaki, like most other shinobi, were extremely pragmatic with their bodily remains, often destroying them utterly to prevent their use in some of the more disturbing jutsu in the world. The Uzumaki were even more alive to the possibility than the others, seeing as many fuinjutsu could be powered by the organic remnants of a person. So the dead bodies, both of the conquering army and of the clansmen, had been automatically disposed deep underground as soon as they were a few days old. And it wasn't as if any of the invaders had escaped with their life – according to Mito, one of the last Uzumaki survivors had, seeing as the battle was lost, initiated a suicidal jutsu that sucked all the life force out of all the inhabitants of the island and used it to power a set of wards surrounding the island. Even Naruto had winced at that; having your life force forcibly extracted was excruciating, as he knew well from personal experience.

Searching through the effects of the dead inhabitants had proved less than satisfactory. There were surprisingly few technique scrolls lying around, which proved quite irritating to him, especially since Mito refused to let him open the huge technique library scroll that she carried with her until he was, to quote her, 'completely recovered of his impulsive behaviour'.

Naruto personally thought her a hypocrite. It wasn't as if she had been the model of restraint, gaping at the seals of that stupid barrel in the middle of a battle. However, seeing as she had the solid backing of Tsunade _and _Shizune, it meant that he was stuck studying fuinjutsu, which was extremely draining to study, or discussing strategy for the foreseeable future if he didn't get any instruction of his own. It didn't help that none of the jutsu he had could be described as discreet by any stretch of the imagination, thus negating the idea of practicing the jutsu he knew on his own.

Entering yet another house, he came upon what had become a very common sight in his scavenging; an ornate sword lying on the ground. This one was a nodachi – the thin, long blade, half drawn from the sheath, shone like burnished silver, contemptuously ignoring the salty breeze that should have rusted the blade long ago. But this was no ordinary sword, Naruto mused, as he knelt near the sword and carefully slid the blade fully inside the sheath. He had to withhold a wince as he did so; even if just for relocation, the Uzumaki Heart blades did not like being handled by someone not their rightful wielder.

The Uzumaki Heart blades were unique to each user. Crafted by every Uzumaki before their promotion to shinobi, the construction of their own Heart blade was a coming of age ritual as old as the clan itself. These blades were used by its wielder for as long as they live, and every single blade had its own specialties and their own quirks; a result of the overwhelming number of seal arrays on the weapons, each of which were traditionally designed by the wielder on their own other than the one seal that gave them partial sentience.

Though they were called blades, Naruto had found they were not necessarily bladed weapons; one of the Heart blades he had found had been an enormous bo staff. What truly made these weapons special was that all of these weapons contained a portion of the very essence of the Uzumaki clansmen that made it, imbued in a special sealing ceremony. Naruto was looking forward to the day he made his own soul blade; that would be when he would, according to the clan's traditions, be considered an adult, and in Naruto's case, the clan head. However it would be some time in the future, for his fuinjutsu was, according to Mito, 'barely passable as the scribbling of a toddler on a sugar rush' currently. It wasn't _his _fault that he was self taught!

Holding the blade between his outstretched hands for a moment, he said a small prayer for the departed clansmen, before carefully stowing it in a pouch over his shoulder, which already contained several other weapons of various kinds. In the evening he would give these to Mito, who would store them with the countless others they had discovered during their stay, to be collectively taken to the memorial shrine.

That was one of the strange quirks of the Uzumaki clan, as Naruto had found out. While other clans did not maintain any memorial of dead clan members other than of the most illustrious members, the Uzumaki had the tradition of collecting the Heart blades of their fallen clansmen and depositing them at a large shrine built at the other side of the volcano. This surprisingly made sense, as the blade contained within them a shade of its owner, meaning that some form of them was present in their blade. Sometime later, after they had finished the scouring of the land for all the Uzumaki Heart Blades, Mito and he were planning to visit the shrine and deposit the blades in their rightful place. When Mito had retrieved her own Heart blade from the Senju clan home where it had been kept, she had also retrieved Kushina's, a blood red katana with gold engravings, to deposit in the shrine along with all the Uzumaki clansmen that had died in the invasion. Naruto hadn't yet looked at it. He had a feeling that it would bring back a lot of feelings he had long buried, deep in his subconscious.

Well, that was in the future. For now, thoughts of forming his own Heart blade had to take a backseat for other pursuits, such as improving his physical condition, which had definitely deteriorated, and regaining control over his chakra.

Because he _had _tried to access his chakra. But to his incredible frustration, his chakra was proving to be most uncooperative, somehow acting more fluid than he was used to. And it was doubly frustrating, because either as a consequence of Sasuke being sealed inside him (and didn't _that_ make him nauseous) or the sealing itself, his chakra capacity, already well into monstrous levels, had doubled, making him lose the tiny fragment of control he had managed to claw onto in as a genin.

His fists clenched as he strode through the ruined streets of Uzushio. He had to regain his edge – he had to. The world was not going to wait for him to be ready, as Danzo had proved. He would be Hokage, and he would bring back the awe that the name of the Uzumaki clan had once inspired. And he did not have time to waste.

…

"This is… umm… a stability glyph?" Naruto guessed wildly, staring at an arcane character that was stubbornly refusing to reveal its secret.

Mito, sitting on the other side of the low table, glared frostily. "Are you asking me, or are you telling me?"

Naruto groaned to himself. "Telling you?" He ventured uncertainly, only to have a scroll smack his head. "What was that for?"

Mito smiled predatorily. "That," she said with obvious satisfaction, "was for not concentrating. Look at the seal again, and this time, look at it carefully."

Rubbing his head, Naruto resumed poring over the sealing character. That curling line looked incredibly familiar, as did that crossed line, and that sweeping line that encircled the right half of the character…

"Hey!" Naruto exclaimed indignantly, looking at a calm Mito. "That's just unfair, Ghost Lady! This is two characters swished together!"

Mito calmly folded her hands in her lap, looking at Naruto as he fumed. "Took you long enough to notice, Naruto-kun. Remember, Fuinjutsu is an art that requires you to use your mind. Why do you think I've been pushing you to study analytic thinking?"

Naruto shrunk into himself. "Sorry, Ghost Lady."

Mito sighed. "Look here, Naruto-kun," she said gently, reaching across the table to touch his cheek and tilting his head to stare into his eyes. "I know you're frustrated, but you have to give your body time to recover."

"But -" Naruto tried to interrupt.

"No buts, Naruto-kun." Mito said firmly. "You pushed yourself far more than you yourself realized that fight. It was never supposed to go that way; I was supposed to switch out for you if you were too hard pressed, you know. But since I got myself knocked out," here a small note of bitterness entered her tone, "that didn't happen."

"I know you want to get stronger, Naruto-kun," she continued, gently caressing his cheek. "But remember, your life is not just your own now, you know." She gestured absently with her free hand. "You are now responsible for the continuation of this entire clan, you know."

Naruto nodded slowly, staring at Mito with some surprise. It wasn't often that the stately woman showed her softer side, and Naruto had learned to cherish every moment.

Laying her other hand on his shoulder, Mito leaned towards him. "So Naruto-kun, be patient. It's good to be eager, but you won't help anybody but your enemies if you burn yourself out."

For a moment, they stared at each other. Then Mito smiled cheerfully, gracefully rising to her feet and turning around. "Well, that's enough sappy stuff for one day, isn't it? Now come on, let's do something a bit more interesting."

Naruto quirked an eyebrow. "You mean I can-"

"No." Mito said flatly. Naruto slumped, pouting. Mito smirked. "So you _don't_ want to start learning how to make explosive tags?"

"I'm learning how to make explosive tags?" Naruto perked up, looking at Mito with glittery eyes.

Mito smirked. "But you said you don't want to?"

"Ne,ne, Ghost Lady, don't be mean! Hey, where are you going? Ghost Lady, wait up!"

…

"Naruto, stop twitching!" Shizune sat up, looking faintly annoyed. On the futon in front of her, Naruto sulked.

"But it tickles, Shizune nee-san!"

Shizune frowned at him. "And you're a ninja. Try to control your body a little."

From the other side of the bed, Mito snickered. "Now now, Shizune-san." She said, eyes twinkling in mirth. "Surely you can't expect a growing boy like Naruto-kun to _control his body _when you lean over him?"

Shizune squeaked, removing her glowing hands from Naruto's torso as if she had been scalded as she looked at Mito, scandalized. "Mito-sama!"

Naruto pouted at Shizune. "What she said, nee-san. When you do that, it just feels strange!"

"Naruto-kun!" Shizune squeaked, while Mito giggled helplessly. "Ne ne, Ghost Lady, why are you laughing?"

A dry voice interrupted them. "Why Shizune, you never told me you went for the younger ones." The now familiar form of Katsuyu appeared next to the futon, Tsunade's voice issuing from it.

"What're you talking about, dattebayo?" Naruto's voice rose loudly in the suddenly quiet room, before Mito dissolved into helpless giggles again, even as Shizune was blushing bright red. "Tsunade-sama!"

Tsunade snickered. "Why Shizune, if I knew you were so easy to tease, I would have started ages ago."

Mito, recovering from her giggling fit, looked at the Katsuyu clone curiously. "So Tsu-Tsu, why are you here now? We didn't expect you until tonight."

It took Tsunade a few moments to compose herself from her giggling fit. Finally stopping her giggling, she choked out, "Ah, right. Just give me a second; it's hard to explain from here," before the slug went unnaturally still.

Naruto turned around to stare at the slug clone Tsunade had been using to speak. Though he had got used at this point to hearing Tsunade's voice issuing from a giant slug – you got used to it pretty fast when there was a giant slug at the head of the table at dinner – it was nevertheless odd to talk to one when it replied in the voice of the Hokage. Somehow, it detracted from the awe factor.

Though he supposed it probably was stranger from Tsunade's point of view. From what he had observed, the clone was effectively taken over by Tsunade during the long distance, and he didn't want to imagine what it felt like to be limbless.

An odd squelching noise brought Naruto out of his temporary reverie, only for him to wish he hadn't as a perfectly manicured hand reached out of the mouth of the slug clone, apparently searching around blindly for a handhold. Involuntarily, Naruto leaned backwards in his futon, trying to put as much distance as possible between the slug regurgitating a human and himself. Seriously, what was it with the Sannin and yucky techniques?

For all it knew, it might be actually pleasant (Though he somehow doubted that _very_ much) but their respective techniques looked way too much like the summon swallowing the summoner for his comfort. The toads were good in a fight, and Gamakichi was even a friend, albeit in the 'moronic brother who keeps getting into scrapes' kind of way. But there was no way he was going near any of their mouths; they ate raw insects, for Log's sake!

During the time he had spent debating the 'why not's of summon based travel, Tsunade had fully extricated herself from the grasp of the slug, which promptly unsummoned itself. She was shaking her hair loose as she took great gulps of air in apparent enjoyment. In Naruto's opinion, she looked far too dry for someone who had just been inside a slug. She also looked inordinately pleased with herself. "Whew," she murmured, apparently to herself before she turned to face them proper, a bright smile on her face. "Thank the Log! I thought I was going to shrivel to death inside that stuffy office!"

"Hello Grandmother, Shizune, brat," she continued, briskly greeted each of them in turn as she stepped towards the futon on which Naruto lay. Leaning over him, she activated a diagnostic jutsu absently as Mito peeked over her shoulder.

""Tsu-Tsu, what are you doing here?"

"Hmm?" Tsunade looked up. "Oh right." She said, smiling sheepishly. "I just wanted to get away from… paperwork…" Tsunade stopped speaking, mechanically turning towards Shizune, who had gone rigid.

"Tsunade-sama…"

"I wanted to check up on Naruto! That was what I was going to say!" Tsunade stammered, panicking. "I am doing all the paperwork, Shizune. Why would you even think otherwise?"

"Maybe because I know you?"Shizune muttered, shooting her a thoroughly unimpressed glare, before she relented under Tsunade's pathetic pleading face. "We'll see, Tsunade-sama," she said grudgingly.

Tsunade laughed nervously. "O-Of course, Shizune!"

Naruto shook his head at the scene, a wide grin on his face. "Baa-chan, you're hopeless."

Tsunade glared at him. "Shut up, brat!" He didn't shy away from that scowl. He didn't. "When we get back, I'm going to make you do the work," she muttered sulkily, "then we'll see how you like it!"

"Hey, bring it on, Baa-chan! I can do all of your stupid paperwork in no time, I'm not old like you!"

Belatedly, Naruto noticed a vein pulsing on Tsunade's brow. Oh hell, now she was mad; he could see her hands curling into fists. Well, time to get the hell out of dodge and change the subject. And totally ignore it if his voice came out an octave higher than usual.

"So, Baa –" Naruto paused as Tsunade's menacing grin rapidly reached a snarl, and hurriedly backpedalled. "Umm… Tsunade-sama," Tsunade grinned most unpleasantly. Victorious grins did not suit her, Naruto thought to himself. They made her look way too scary for comfort. Why oh why did he find himself around so many violent women? "Why did you come here?"

Tsunade didn't answer immediately, instead staring contemplatively at her jutsu.

"I managed to borrow the Nara's Medical Encyclopedia on a hunch. They had a method to stimulate recovery in chakra coils. It should, theoretically, unclog the chakra coils of the life force tainting it."

"Any side effects, Tsunade-sama?" Shizune asked curiously, looking at the process from where she was; as usual, on the right side of Tsunade and behind her. Naruto couldn't help but notice that she seemed to slip into the background whenever Tsunade was around, even though she was usually very personable.

Tsunade grunted in reply to her question. "No, but he will need continuous medicine for the coming month. Other than that, after the procedure is complete he should be good to train."

Naruto could literally feel himself perk up at that news. He had had way too much time getting sidelined due to his inability, and he was getting antsy. It didn't help that he had so much to learn, and for the first time in his life, teachers willing to teach him unreservedly. However helpful and understanding Iruka had been, he had always refused to teach him anything not covered by him in class.

Crowing in joy, he grabbed onto Tsunade's hand urgently. "So when can we do it, Baa-chan?"

Tsunade chuckled. "Yes, we can do it today, brat."

Naruto got up off the futon as Tsunade's diagnostic jutsu flickered out, almost vibrating in place in his impatience. "Well what are we waiting for, Baa-chan? Let's go!"

…

The Uzumaki ritual chamber was quiet, as was befitting the momentous occasion that was currently taking place inside it. After all, this was the first time in Mito's memory that non-Uzumaki were conducting a sealing ritual inside the most sacred of the Uzumaki structures.

Usually, even if the spokes were displayed to allies, the main chamber was completely off limits to non Uzumaki. And the sealing, even of a medical nature, to be conducted on the Uzumaki clan heir by outsiders… That, Mito thought as she overlooked the process from outside the chamber, was the ultimate expression of what the ravages of time and war had done to a once proud clan.

She had wanted to take part in the ritual; in fact, she had insisted, until Tsunade had shown her the schematics of the seal that was proposed. It had been… crude, for the lack of a better term, but it would do the job. However, unfortunately, the seal's design by nature completely negated any chance of her taking part in it. For one, the seal absorbed a pulse of the sealer's own life force to kick start the process. It wouldn't be much, barely an hour's worth, but as a chakra construct she had none at all. In addition, it required a steady flow of chakra from the sealer to the seal, which would merely stress both her and Naruto, and probably cause the seal to implode if she took part, seeing as 'her' chakra was, itself being siphoned from Naruto via the Vampire seal. So in the end, she had grudgingly accepted being delegated to being a mere observer in the proceedings, and she was finding that it did not really agree with her.

The giant seal etched on the floor of the sealing chamber was giving off an ethereal reddish glow, pulsing slightly. From where they were sitting opposite each other in the corners of the chamber, two feminine figures locked their hands in an unusual seal simultaneously, their right hands forming a half-ram and their left hands clenched with the forefinger and middle finger outstretched, touching the giant sealing matrix.

"Shizune, now!"

Both the figures were shrouded in a miasma of chakra. Soon, a wave of colour washed over the seal, acid green and sky blue racing inwards from their corners to meet in the epicenter of the seal, where a figure, seemingly unconscious, lay.

When the waves of colour crashed into the figure, for a moment the figure arched, red, green and blue flames of ethereal chakra surrounding him, a kaleidoscope of colour as the waves of green and blue crashed into the figure, insistently trying to overcome the last resistance of the red. Something had to give.

After a moment that lasted a lifetime, the final barrier of red cracked. And Naruto's eyes snapped open as he started to scream.

On the opposite ends of the seal, Tsunade and Shizune slumped in place. Mito was grabbing the railing so tightly that the wood, strengthened by countless strengthening seals, was beginning to crack under the strain. In the chamber the seal dimmed from the outside inwards, the very ink breaking into light particles and floating into nothingness. And Naruto continued to scream hoarsely, back arching in agony as light seemed to pour into him from the seal.

The deterioration finally reached the centre of the seal, and imploded with a final sputter of light. Naruto fell limply to the ground, shivering. For a moment there was an expectant silence, everyone watching the crumpled figure expectedly.

The silence was shattered by the sound of a low, breathless laugh. Gradually growing in volume, soon Naruto's maniacal laughter was echoing throughout the chamber as he lay flat on his back.

"Ah hah hah Hah HAH!"

None of the others made to move, unable to understand what was happening. Then, a multitude of glowing golden chakra protrusions burst out of Naruto's back, passing through the floor without harming it in the least and cocooning him. But they were not all chains; each of the individual chakra expressions was unique. Tsunade could see a glowing chain, what looked like a series of glowing kanji, a translucent dragon and even a silhouette of a snake, only seen by the distortion of the air around it.

Mito gasped at the sight. It was impossible, utterly impossible… Getting up, she hurriedly walked to the chamber. If that was what she thought it was…

Naruto held up one hand, blue chakra coalescing around it to condense into a perfect sphere of swirling chakra – the Rasengan. From the base upwards, each one of the structures surrounding him seemed to collapse upon itself, reforming into the familiar form of the golden chains. And Naruto finally opened his eyes, as a tired smirk formed on his lips. "I'm back."

Mito poked her head into the chamber timidly, as Tsunade and Shizune got onto their feet, panting heavily. "Naruto-kun, are you all right?" Mito asked, somewhat hesitantly.

Naruto turned towards her, a wide grin on her face, and gave her a thumbs up. "Never better, Ghost Lady," he said, his voice still somewhat hoarse from the screaming. Then he seemed to notice the chains around him, for he frowned. "Ah, wait a second, Ghost Lady, I'll just deacti…"

As soon as Naruto cut the flow of chakra to the chain, he trailed off mid talk as he collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut.

"Naruto-kun!"

Tsunade and Mito reached him at the same time, and Mito fretted over him as Tsunade ran a diagnostic jutsu tiredly. Finally, Tsunade's jutsu flickered out as she got back to her feet, hefting Naruto over her shoulder in a fireman's carry. "It's all right, just chakra exhaustion."

Mito breathed a sigh of relief. Tsunade gave her a commiserating look. "Don't be relieved now." She half-joked. "When he gets up and realizes he can do jutsu, he's not going to stop pestering you."

Mito smiled gently, helping up Shizune, who looked close to passing out. She reached out with one hand to ruffle the blood red locks of the unconscious Uzumaki, her eyes softening. "It's all right. The Uzumaki will do well with him, I know."


End file.
